Darkness Falls
by DamoclesFolly
Summary: A cross over consisting of Neon Genesis Evangelion and the mythos of H.P. Lovecraft, nuff said. Original elements, slight OOC, AU.
1. Darkness Falls

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the property of Gainax Studio and the intellectual property of Hideaki Anno. I own neither and hold no claims to such. Same goes for any other mention made of name brand or copyrighted material.

**Darkness Falls**

Shinji Ikari was also having a bad day. Even worse it had started off well enough, if not a little routine, waking up early to the sound of his alarm before slipping quietly out of his room. He didn't know why but for some reason he had a good feeling about today, a sort of sense of happiness with his current situation. It had been nearly a month since he and his teammates had defeated the ninth Angel Matariel and life had become once again the daily grind of school, home and sync tests he was accustomed to.

After taking a quick shower and changing into his school uniform, Shinji emptied the trash can and carried it downstairs to the dumpster. He then returned to the apartment and began picking out components for the morning's breakfast. Mindlessly humming a tune he skillfully went to work and before long the kitchen was permeated with the scent of eggs being fried and bread being toasted. Still whistling cheerfully to himself he set the table for three and distributed the food accordingly. Standing back he removed his apron and surveyed his efforts with a hearty smile. Glancing at the clock he decided it was getting a little late so he'd better rouse his flat mates.

"Misato-san! Asuka-san! It's time for breakfast!" He called. When no response came in reply, he shook his head in amusement and knocked on the nearest of the closed bedroom doors. "Misato-san, it's time to get up!" This time a grunt came back in acknowledgment so Shinji moved onto the second door and relayed the same message. This done he sat back down at the table and started to eat.

It wasn't long before a crash followed by a loud moan issued forth from the first room and Shinji's purple haired guardian made her grand appearance. Stumbling across the room in a shambling gait, Major Misato Katsuragi plopped down across from Shinji and rubbed her blood shot eyes.

"Gah Shinji! I can never figure out how you do it, getting up so early and all and every day? That just borders the crazy."

"I don't know I've just always been an early riser..." Shinji glanced annoyingly at the still closed second door. _'I swear sometimes that these two would not even bother getting up if I didn't make breakfast.'_ He thought to himself '_Just the kind of ingratitude tha…_'

"YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAYEEEE!!!" his private complaints were painfully interrupted as the Major completed her morning beer ritual complete with ear shatteringly loud victory cry. "That's the stuff that gets _me_ out of bed in the morning!" Grinning Misato seductively licked her lips and leaned over the table, bringing her scantily clad "assets" into Shinji's line of view. "So you're an early riser huh? You and every man sweetie!" Laughing in delight as he clumsily covered up the growing bulge in his pants, Misato playfully swatted Shinji upside the head causing his ever reddening face to go even redder.

Still smiling, Misato sat back down and started to devour her food.

"Shinji these eggs are great! I don't understand how you do it!" she said between chews "I swear keep this sort of thing up and I don't know how long I can keep my hands off of you!"

"If you really love the baka so much then why don't you marry him." The statement came as a hiss, issuing from Shinji's missing roommate and fellow EVA pilot as she finally graced them with her presence. "Or better yet move out."

"Good morning Asuka!" Shinji called waving his hand for the redhead to join them at the table. "I made e…"

"Shut up baka, it's too early for that kind of attitude!" Asuka pulled out a chair and slumped her face into the table top. "Seriously I don't understand why I have to go through this every day; after all I've already graduated freaking college! There is just no valid reason for making me go to school, other than wanting to painfully torture me; especially when it's obvious I'm not learning anything I don't know already."

"Asuka you complain about going to school every morning and every morning I explain why." Misato illustrated her point with a wave of her fork, sending bits of egg flying all over the place. "The reason you go to school is to further your understanding of Japanese culture and language, as well as provide a place where you can interact with other people your age in a safe monitored environment."

"But…" Misato slashed her fork like a dagger cutting off any resistance before it had a chance to form. She had no intention of getting into a full out verbal brawl with the German teen this early in the morning, which even in the best of times was a painful and rather long drawn out affair.

"_Furthermore," _She said not letting her opponent get a word in edgewise "it gets you out of my hair and more importantly out of this apartment. Besides it's not like you ever see Shinji complaining about going to school." As soon as she finished Shinji cringed; he already knew where this was going, and as he cleared the now forgotten breakfast plates from the table he made a tactically planned, yet hasty retreat out of the line of fire.

Asuka didn't bother to prove him wrong. "That's because he's a spineless baka! If you told him to stay home from school he would, if you tell him to go to school he will and if you told him to get down on his hands and knees and blow you…"

"Asuka, watch your language!" Misato stood up, abruptly jarring the table, "Besides Shinji has a spine, and you of all people should know that! What about that time he risked his life to save you when he pulled your sinking EVA out of that volcano?! Or when he almost died stopping the Jet Alone from reaching the city and killing all those people or what about….."

"Exactly!" Asuka mirrored Misato's earlier move, jarring the table yet again and causing Shinji groan to himself, annoyed at the shear predictability of his life. "When he's in EVA, sure he can show some balls but only because he's been ordered to! But take a moment outside to talk to him and it's like he can't even piss without someone holding his hand!"

"Uh, Misato, Asuka?" Shinji stammered raising a hand in vain effort to extinguish the shrinking fuse.

"Quiet Shinji this doesn't concern you!" Misato growled and reluctantly he dropped his hand in defeat.

"Uh, okay. I'm sorr…" He winced as his half uttered statement brought the redheads smoldering gaze into line with his own.

"See what I mean!? I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Asuka's voice rose in a mocking high pitched squeal "Hi my name is Shinji and I'm a big fat lipped wuss, please just leave me alone! Bah!" Asuka threw up her hands in exasperation "If you were an actually responsible guardian you would see that babying him doesn't help! I see how you look at him, tell him everything's going to be alright, not to worry he has people that care about him! Hell you'd be better just finishing what you started and screwing him! Maybe then he'd actually show some balls, even if it was only to you!"

"Why you little…" Misato started to hike up imaginary sleeves and Shinji inwardly groaned. He knew where this was headed and he had found that in the past that trying to interfere at this point would just make things worse. So instead he concentrated on finishing up the dishes before he started preparing his and Asuka's bentos.

"Language Major, language." Asuka teased throwing Misato's earlier comment right back at her "But then again what do you expect from low brow streetwalking gutter trash like yourself." The veins that had been bulging before on Misato's forehead now expanded at an alarming rate and one could almost see steam leaking from her nostrils.

"WHY YOU LITTLE BITCH!!" Misato screamed and threw herself across the table, knocking the teen clear off her chair. Asuka landed with on the floor with a meaty thud followed by a little shriek of rage as Misato dove on top of the lighter teen, wasting no time, clawing and scratching the younger woman with all the ferocity you'd expect from a woman with her reputation questioned.

"GET OFF OF ME YOU DRIED UP WHORE!" Asuka screamed and pitched the other woman off of her in a vain attempt to escape, only to be brought down from behind moments by a well executed flying tackle.

Shinji mentally plugged his ears as the women turned to psychological warfare.

"SPOILED BRAT!"

"SLUT!"

"TEENIE BOPPER!"

"WITHERED HAG!"

"A-CUP!"

With their insults temporarily exhausted; the two women threw themselves at each other with a wordless screech.

Meanwhile Shinji had finished packing the lunches and started to place them in his and Asuka's book bags. Taking care to ignore and avoid the writhing pile of fighting, scratching, hair pulling, female bits at his feet, Shinji looked at his watch and sighed.

"Asuka it's almost time to leave, don't you think you should get ready?" he suggested, trying to keep the hopefulness out of his voice.

With a final *SLAP* the two sweaty women untangled their limbs and fell apart.

"This isn't finished!" Asuka growled as she rose to her feet wiping her hands on the side of her t-shirt.

"Anytime sweetheart anytime." Misato cheerfully called from her reclining position on the floor. As the young teen stormed into the bathroom the purple haired Major blew her retreating back a kiss.

Shinji walked over to his fallen guardian and helped her to her feet. "Thanks Shinji-kun."

"Misato why do you provoke her like that? I mean it doesn't really bother me you two fighting but you know now she's going to be in a bad mood today and that typically means she's going to take it out on me." Misato placed her hand on Shinji's shoulder.

"Bah! A little in-fighting's good for people, keeps things interesting. Besides when a person has a constitution like Asuka it helps to keep her personality in check. The only thing she understands is confrontation."

"But just how does help me?" Any further discussion was ended with a wave of Misato's hand.

"You're a man aren't you? I'm sure you can handle a little female aggression once in a while." She said as she walked into her room. Pausing at the threshold she called over her shoulder. "Who knows, it might be good for you!"

Her door slid shut and Shinji stood in the hallway silently fuming. On the sound of another door being opened he turned around just in time to be greeted by a certain towel covered red head.

"Oh hey Asu…" The resounding smack could be heard in the adjacent apartments all up and down the block.

"PEVERT! Waiting outside the bathroom for a cheap peak eh? You men are all the same!" Gathering her towels around her like a robe she pushed the still red faced Shinji into the wall with near bone breaking force and stalked into her room.

Shinji slumped against the wall, feeling the bruises already starting to form on his back. _'Dammit Asuka that really fucking hurt!'_ he grimaced before rising slowly to his feet. Sighing to himself he limped over to the kitchen table and sat down with his hands on his forehead. Why did this always have to happen to him? "It's not like I asked for any of this." He stated to no-one in particular.

It wouldn't be so bad except this kind of thing seemed to be happening more and more lately. Denied the one thing she enjoyed, piloting EVA, Asuka had resorted to other sources of relief for her pent up frustration. Namely abusing Shinji and being a general pain to everyone else. Not that she was a generally nice person in the best of times, but lately her attacks had been much more vicious and personal.

"Come on Third we don't have all day!" Asuka stood in her doorway with her arms crossed, dressed in her school uniform.

'_Speak of the devil.'_ Shinji thought glumly as he picked up their back packs and handed Asuka's to her, only to have it immediately shoved back into his arms.

"Carrying things is not a task suited for a top rated EVA pilot like myself. You however are. Therefore you now have the honor of carrying the great Asuka Langley Soryu's book bag!"

With that she swirled and marched out of the apartment, luscious auburn hair bobbing under her two pointy neural connectors. Shinji stood still for a minute dreamily admiring the way her hips swung as she walked. Shaking himself out of his private fantasy Shinji moved to follow, but was interrupted as his guardian's door slid open.

"Shinji, sorry about Asuka, I think she's just frustrated because she's bored. Maybe you should do something with her after school today." Misato said as she leaned against the doorframe. "Take her to the arcade or something. Also don't bother making dinner for me tonight. I pulled the overnight shift at work, so I won't be here when you get home. Don't you to get into any trouble!" With that and a wink Misato slid the door shut and left Shinji out in the hallway.

Still trying to figure out what Misato had meant from that last comment, Shinji closed the front door and hurried down the hall.

Getting into the elevator Shinji pressed the button for the first floor, noting with some disappointment that Asuka hadn't bothered waiting for him. Not that he expected anything different from her, but deep down he had always held some hope that he and Asuka could both eventually get past their differences and move on to something resembling a normal friendship. However given Asuka's natural fiery personality and his rather timid one it seemed at times it to border on the impossible. Coupled with the recent escalation in tension at the Katsuragi household it appeared to Shinji that in fact they were doing the exact opposite, falling farther and farther from that category of friends to the rather more natural standing (at least in Asuka's mind) of enemies.

'_Should have recognized a pipe dream when I saw one."_ His thoughts rang with melancholy.

The buzzer *dinged* and Shinji exited at street level, only to be greeted by a mighty slap.

"Baka, just who do you think you are making me wait like that?!" Asuka demanded, poking her finger painfully into Shinji's chest.

"What was that for?" he asked rubbing his hand across his stinging cheek. _'God dammit Asuka, at least make an effort to spice up the punishment once in a while.'_ "So you waited here just to slap me again?"

While he maintained his calm demeanor, Shinji inwardly jumped in glee at the slight reddening of Asuka's pretty features and whether it was in anger or embarrassment he didn't care.

Regardless of the reason it didn't take longer than a moment for Asuka to quickly recover her composure and replace it with her usual haughty air. "No I just wanted to make sure you brought my bag to school instead of skipping school to screw that whore all day. Anyways come I don't want to be late!" With that she about faced in a blur of skirts and hair and sped off down the street, leaving a sputtering red faced Shinji in her wake.

…

'_God this old guy can really pack it in_.' Shinji mused as the teacher started off on another one of his rambling Pre-Second Impact oriented lectures. As far as Shinji knew the old man had never actually taught anything of any practical use. Not that any of the other students in his class particularly cared one way or the other. Text messaging and note passing occupied most of their time, the rest was spent doodling on textbooks or staring aimlessly into space.

Shinji sighed and tried to tone out the incessant droning of his Sensei. Seriously the guy would put rocks asleep, let alone second year junior high students. Propping his head up on his fist, Shinji let his eyes wander around the room finally settling on Asuka sitting at the front of the class. Trying her best to fake interest in the teachers lecture she was currently typing furiously on her laptop taking time off to occasionally flick a despondent hair over her shoulder. 'Damn she looks good today, but then again she does every day.' He closed his eyes and tried to imagine her as she was the night before the defeat of the seventh angel: timid, frightened, alone, she was all of these things the night she had sleepwalked into the living room and collapsed on his bed. Not surprisingly he couldn't do it. It seemed at times that this Asuka was an entirely different person than the one who had tackled the seventh with him and who he had risked life and limb to save during their ill advised excursion into Mt. Asama. At those times he had almost felt at ease with the redhead, finally seeming to get past the petty differences that life had presented to them and try to find some sort of peace. However their truce had come to an end with the attack of the ninth and the subsequent lack of Evangelion related action had led to Asuka's current boredom and the renewal of their previous at odds relationship.

"Whatcha looking at Shinji?" A sudden hand on his shoulder caused him to jump. "Thinking of trying to tame a certain red headed demon are you?" Rolling his eyes Shinji looked across the aisle at his friend Kensuke Aida and regarded the bespectacled geek.

"N-n-oo, I'm just thinking about the…the last angel attack and I was wondering when the next one is going to show." He whispered back.

"Bullshit," his friend said as he pressed his finger to the center of his glasses "I've seen you mooning over her. Shin-dog you can't resist nature man. You might as just give it up and admit it."

"Eh leave the boy alone, if he wants to go around playing with the fires of hell let em." Listening in, Shinji's other friend Toji Suzuhara decided to put in his two bit's worth. "Besides if he wants to mess around with the devil I say let him. That just means that Misato-san is all the more available for us!" the jock said as he threw a wink and thumbs up at Kensuke.

The other boy caught the wink and answered "Right man right! Oh Shinji, I envy you living with such a fox like Misato! But you're right Toji, if he wants to waste his time getting his balls stepped on by Asuka I say we leave him to play his little boy games. It's just unfair that such a fine vintage of woman would be wasted on such a little minded man."

As the conversation continued back and forth between the two, Shinji just shut them out. He was if not immune then used to this kind of teasing by over exposure to it and barely paid it mind any more. After all, he got a double earful every day from Misato, who seemed to derive a sense of deranged pleasure from seeing his face go red in embarrassment, not to mention the random insults that Asuka delivered at every opportunity. Of course he'd rather take the teasing any day over the cold indifference offered by his father or the detached scientific curiosity of Dr. Akagi's verbal prodding.

"…well Shinji?"

Not having heard the question in the first place Shinji merely raised his eyebrow. Kensuke merely shook his head in exasperation.

"Come on man pay attention! What's with you spacing out so much recently? You know it only goes to confirm my suspicions about you and big red." With a blank look from Shinji, Kensuke continued "Anyways I asked if you knew where Ayanami-san has been for the past few days?" he gestured to an empty desk situated against the wall near the windows. Indeed there was an empty space, usually occupied with his fellow blue haired EVA pilot, Ayanami Rei.

Shinji answered his friends query with a shrug, though in truth he had a pretty good idea where the quiet girl had gotten too. Earlier that week he had overheard Dr. Akagi talking to some other technicians about feedback problems in Unit-00's sync graph. Although Shinji didn't understand the specific nature of the problem as with all things EVA, physical pilot input was probably required and Rei was most likely being held at NERV in an attempt to sort it out.

"Bah you're useless sometimes you know that?" Kensuke replied turning his attention away from Shinji to fiddle with his always present video camera.

'_How about next time a 100 foot tall monster from hell comes calling I let you deal with it?_' Shinji mentally replied as he turned his attention back to the front of the room.

…

Lunch was the usual affair, eating with Toji and Kensuke in the shade of a tree in the school yard. They talked as they ate, managing to cover all the important topics, women, sports, television. At one point Toji and Aida got into a heated argument concerning which qualities in a man Major Katsuragi liked the most. Toji was a firm believer in the Major's love of strong men with lots of confidence citing her profession as evidence. Kensuke countered with his opinion that such an intelligent person as the Tactical Operation Director at NERV would prize a healthy mind and keen intellect; therefore he was the clear choice to ask her on a date. Shinji tried to ignore them both as best he could, something he found he was getting a lot of practice of lately. Eventually the bell rung and they walked back to class together, his two friends arguing their opposing views the entire way.

…

The final bell rang and Shinji woke up with a heavy start. He had fallen asleep halfway through the lecture and hadn't bothered with any sort of pretense. At the head of the classroom the class representative Hikari Horaki did her usual "Rise, bow, sit!" routine that officially ended the day. After returning the bow his teacher gathered his things and left the room prompting an eruption of noise from the previously silent students.

Getting up out of his desk and stifling a heavy yawn Shinji remembered Misato's suggestion of taking Asuka out to do something. So he picked up his books and headed over to where she was still seated. On the way to walking to her desk he decided on asking her to go to a movie with him, his reasoning being it would take up a few hours and cost less than the arcade.

So gathering what little courage he could dredge up, Shinji approached her desk and placed a hand on it to steady himself. Detecting his presence Asuka remained facing straight ahead her face plastered with a look of annoyance. Suddenly finding himself nervous and lacking the necessary words, he simply froze in place trying desperately to find his courage. When this didn't seem to be working she let out an exasperated groan and turned fully in her seat to face him.

"What is it baka?" she growled snapping her fingers in front of his face to get his attention.

"Oh, hey Asuka, um…Misato isn't going to be home tonight so it's just going to be us and ah...I was wondering if you wanted to do something with me. Like maybe go to a movie or something?' he stammered

"Are you asking me out on a date after the shit you pulled this morning?" Asuka's eyebrows lowered and her voice reached a low growl.

"Um...no…I was just seeing if you…um sorry?" he squeaked out, holding his hands out in supplication. If anything this only served to enrage Asuka further and as she rose to her feet Shinji could almost smell the fire and brimstone.

"So now I'm not good enough to go on a date with you, aye baka?" she stated in voice full of menace as she walked towards the now cowering teenager. "Well then baka, if you can't show enough balls to ask a girl like me out then I suppose you don't need any." With that she kneed Shinji right in the nads, causing the shocked boy to scream in a high pitched voice and collapse on the floor.

Walking past him with an air of contempt writ on her features, Asuka stormed out of the classroom leaving a now moaning Shinji in front of a class of giggling middle school students.

…

After a few minutes of intense rubbing Shinji managed to shakily get to his feet. Looking around he noticed the entire class had left with the exception of the class rep, who was working on getting the dust out of the chalk erasers.

"I don't know what you said to Asuka Shinji but whatever it was I'm not sure you deserved that." Hikari winced as he painfully walked bowlegged over to where she was and leaned against the wall.

"Yeah neither am I, though I probably should of expected something like that." He sputtered still trying to massage feeling back into his legs.

"Well regardless, I suggest you don't make the same mistake again. "

"Yeah, I'll try to remember. See you later Hikari-san!" He waved as he limped out of the classroom and into the hallway.

"Bye Ikari-san! I hope you feel better." She called

Grumbling under his breath, Shinji made his way laboriously down to the front entrance, wincing with every step. As he finally reached the exit, he pushed open the doors only to be immediately soaked by a sudden deluge of rain.

"Oh you've got to be shitting me." He cursed silently as he held his bag over his head and started hobbling down the street.

…

Asuka glanced worriedly at the window as the speed of the rain pattering against the panes intensified once again. It had been over an hour and Shinji still wasn't home. Not that she would ever admit to caring. Seated on the couch in the apartment's living room she had been playing her PS4 ever since getting home. Growling in frustration, she threw down her controller and crossed her arms.

'_Stupid baka Shinji, making me wait for him again!_' Asuka buzzed angrily to herself. She had come up with this plan shortly after Shinji had asked her to go to the movies. Truth be told she had been delighted when he had asked; it had been what seemed like ages since she had been outside the dingy apartment for anything other than school or N.E.R.V related business. Plus she was glad he was finally showing some backbone for once, and to be honest it thrilled her to no end. She liked those parts of Shinji, the brave, sensitive, funny young man who could be brimming with tender hearted kindness one moment and stubbornly holding the lines against the enemies of mankind the next. That was the kind of someone who she could picture bringing into her life as a friend of something more.

However on the flipside was the Shinji who seemed to anger her with every wince, every apology and every bow. It was an enigma how two such conflicting personalities could exist in a single vessel. Even more frustrating was how those two personalities could have such adverse effects on her.

'_Bah! No use wasting time wishing, I just hope he gets here soon before the theater closes._' When he had asked her to go with him she had in her mind immediately said yes but had decided to keep up appearances in front of the rest of the class. Thus she had done what she did, humiliating him in front of the class to prevent her own embarrassment. It didn't make her feel any better about herself, but in her own mind she had qualified her reaction as being for the best. In addition the look on his face when she kneed him had been priceless. Running back to the apartment she had planned on ignoring him until boredom got the best of his caution and prompted him to ask again. At which time she'd grudgingly accept his proposal but not without first giving him a well deserved tongue lashing and a few reasonable demands to be met.

She shivered in anticipation at the forthcoming free dinner and impromptu shopping spree. 'A girl has her needs, sorry baka Shinji but that's the way it is." she giggled. She shivered once again but this time for a different reason. This morning it had been about 27 degrees Celsius but by mid afternoon when the freak storms had first started it had steadily dropped down to 15 and showed no sign of stopping. Already the local news was proclaiming it the coldest day in years, issuing a flood warning for the outlying low altitude communities and a severe weather alert for the rest of the Tokyo 3 area.

Asuka jumped as lighting flashed immediately followed by a staccato crash of thunder. Getting up quickly she walked to her door and slid it open, taking a jacket from her closet and slipping it on. She had never liked thunder storms and the feeling of helplessness that encompassed her whenever she encountered one. It cut too close for comfort by reminding her of her own uncomfortable past. It had been raining the day her mother died, but she had run through the rain anyways to tell her that her only daughter had been selected to be an elite EVA pilot. Instead she had found her mentally unstable mother hanging from the ceiling; frozen grin still plastered on the corpses lips. On that day the 4-year old Soryu had sworn to herself that she would be the best at everything she did and would never cry again.

Collapsing back on the couch Asuka wiped the hair from her face and reached for the remote. Flicking the channel she started to flip through channels all the while glancing at the clock.

"Dammit Shinji where could you be?" she whispered.

…

Shinji plodded down the slick city streets, angry with Asuka and the world in general. But mostly he was just angry with himself for asking her in the first place. He was starting to realize that his relationship with Asuka was reflective of his life in general. Pathetic. First he was denied by fate a normal life and was denied happiness in this one by his own self inflicted sorrows. Finally the meticulous and ongoing meddling of his father and so many others in his life had sealed the deal. In all the time since he had arrived here in Tokyo 3 all those months ago he had been submitted to the manipulations of a whole cadre of shadowy masked figures all of them working at his expense for their own twisted purposes.

Feeling the effects of the freezing rain, Shinji moved off the sidewalk into a side alley, taking refuge under the back door of a laundry mat. From his position he watched as people rushed up and down the street with newspapers and briefcases held over their heads. He remembered what those people looked like when he rode inside the EVA. Like ants and seeing them scurry back and forth only served to remind him of that comparison. They were all so small in comparison to the things life decided to throw at them. What's the point of fighting for humanity when they were destined to run themselves into the ground anyways? Shinji didn't know why; he fought because he was told to fight because if he didn't then those that depended on him would perish in the fires of third impact. And who were those people? He honestly didn't know. Things that once had been so straight forward now were jaded by the numbing experiences he had endured. People he had once trusted now seemed to have ulterior motives. Misato's light hearted teasing had become the inadequate and frustrated projections of a cold hearted machinist shaping him into the weapon needed by his cold hearted bastard of a father.

Whenever she went off on him, instead of doing so as a frustrated teenage girl, Asuka's tantrum seemed to be personal attacked created by her insistent jealousy of his unwanted pilot status.

His so called friends, Kensuke and Toji, one a sycophant intent on riding on the coat tails of his celebrity status and the other a faux friend created by guilt trip induced fellowship brought on by the accidental injury of his little sister.

And Rei who had been the first person he had opened up to here. The only person who at the time had seemed as if they would turn a sympathetic ear to his problems had shown herself to be a loyal minion of his father, just another measure of control for the old man to exert over him.

Emotional blackmail, that's all they were, the whole city of them just placed to force his hand in a quest he never had any stake in to begin with. To save the future of humanity, so what was the point of rescuing such a sickly and vicious beast from extinction when all it could ever do was cause harm to itself and others? Maybe it was better to let it die or perhaps even put it out of its misery, allow for a clean slate and fresh start. Perhaps the angels would do a better job of things, who knew?

As he asked himself these things, crouched hiding in a filth encrusted alley way like a wild stray, he realized the real reason he was locked in this destiny. It was his own cowardice and nothing else, he wasn't even brave enough to do nothing, let alone die for something. So he was stuck and nothing he was willing to do would ever change that. Turning his head upwards into the incoming rain he let the water wash over him, mixing with his frustrated tears, dripping into the street and flowing away into the street.

…

Section-2 Agent Riro Hirakata keyed his earpiece and once again queried a status update on the Third Childs position. Once more he was met with static, an event he was becoming quite accustomed to. Turning to his partner Hari he frowned.

"Damn rain is messing with the god damn radios again." He stated "I can't make contact with the other teams and there's still no response from HQ. Are you absolutely sure he didn't stop or turn off anywhere?"

The other agent replied with a shrug and pointed down the street "Well if he did I didn't see him do it. Besides for all we know the kid might have took off sprinting at some point just to get out of this damn rain."

"Shit, you know if we can't find him it's going to be our asses' right?" Hirakata cursed. They been shadowing Shinji ever since he had left school, following at a respectable distance in a vain attempt to remain discrete. Men in suits and sunglasses had a hard time with that. However regardless of their visibility it hadn't been long until they had lost him in a particularly rough patch and suddenly the damn kid had just disappeared. Despite their best efforts they had yet to re-acquire the target.

"Well then we'd better keep looking." The other man motioned for him to move ahead and they quickly moved down the street searching as they went.

…

He didn't know for how long he sat there sobbing silently into hands and it was only when he heard the approaching sound of footsteps did he even bother to look up. Peering into the oily darkness of the alley he was suddenly gripped with an impending sense of dread. Turning to flee, he never saw the running at a dead sprint appear from the shadows and slam into his back. Nor did he notice the look of absolute horror etched on his face or the blood that covered his hands. He did however notice the force of the impact and found himself entangled in a mass of writhing limbs and clothes.

Breath knocked out of him, Shinji was less quick of the two to react and as the man detached himself he immediately feared for the worst. Mugging, kidnapping, assassination. These things ran quickly through Shinji's mind as he fought to regain his footing and flee. A somewhat more detached part of him wondered idly where exactly his Section-2 escorts had gotten off too; this was after all the sort of thing they were supposed to guard against.

However his paranoia proved to be unfounded as the sound of his assailants squishy footsteps receded into the distance. Quickly turning he caught only the briefest glimpse of a trench coat covered form before it rounded the corner and disappeared.

Raising himself warily to his feat he quickly wiped the grime from his spill off his pants and scanned the alley for any sign of the encounter. Finding it well and truly deserted he turned to exit the alley, when he tripped once again and landed face first into the muck.

"God damn it!" he exclaimed crawling up on all fours then sitting back on his ass, uncaring of the sudden wetness that permeated the seat of his pants. Rubbing his knees he looked around for the cause of his fall and found it lying directly behind him, partially submerged in a rather large pothole. Standing once again he picked it up from where it had fallen and gave it a cursory glance over.

It seemed to be a rather large plain looking leather briefcase, presumably dropped by the mystery man when he made his hectic rush away. On the front was a decorative metal seal of some sort, its appearance and message too obscured by the muck and mud to be easily identifiable. Deciding to take it back to the apartment so he could get a closer look at it, Shinji hoisted it over his head as make shift cover and hurried his way out of the alley and back to the apartment.

In the sky above the city, lighting flashed ominously and the alleyway he had just emerged from was briefly lit up fully. For a fleeting second the bloody truth was revealed for those who sought it, only to be swallowed once again by the all consuming darkness.

…

Shinji reached the door to the apartment, spent a moment fumbling with his keys, banged open the door and then rushed inside. He was freezing; the rain had seemingly stripped away his warmth to the core.

With a chattering of teeth he rushed to his room dropping his soaked book bag and the mystery briefcase on his floor before changing out of his clothes and into a set of clean ones. Just in shedding his waterlogged garments, Shinji felt a twelve fold times better than before, as if the dark thoughts in the alley had been locally created, a product of the environment. The feelings of despair and betrayal he had been feeling earlier had all but dissipated with the fading of the cold. Plus he was genuinely happy to finally be inside out of the rain.

After putting his wet clothes in the hamper he went back to his book and retrieved the briefcase from where he had dumped it in the middle of the floor. Setting it down on his desk he sat down and switched on the lamp. Wiping clean the metal engraving of mud he studied the seal's curious design, a double headed eagled emblazoned with a heraldic shield and an open book. Below the design were angular western characters that Shinji identified as being English.

"Mis-katon-nic Un-uni-ver-sity." He whispered, having trouble pronouncing the unfamiliar words. Intrigued as to how a briefcase from a western university had ended up on the streets of Japan he sought to open it and examine its contents. Unfortunately it seemed that his efforts at exploration would be further hampered as the opening was secured by a golden combination lock. After failing to pry it open with his fingers Shinji decided on going for the big guns and pulled a screw driver out of his desk drawer. However after a few minutes of exerting himself and making all sorts of humorous facial expressions he dropped it all back on to the desk top and leaned back in his chair lightly panting.

'_Well I guess I should have figured it wouldn't be so easy._' He sighed and tumbled the three number lock until it landed on 000. Pulling the lid he wasn't particularly surprised when it didn't budge.

'_Oh who would have figured'_ he thought sarcastically _'Yep this is going to take a while.'_ Turning the wheels to 001 he settled in for the long run.

…

Misato walked down the long hallways of NERV with a spring in her step. She had been feeling good today for some reason, probably due to the tension that had been released by her fight with Asuka this morning. She had really been feeling the pressure of her position recently. In lieu of real life angel attacks the daily schedule of NERV had been redesigned as an endless battery of drills, sync tests and maintenance tasks. While the angel attacks were by far the more physically dangerous, the simple task of doing the same things day after day all the while not knowing when the next attack would come proved to be much more wearing on the personnel. Already a month into the lull and there were murmurs of discontent in the ranks, whisperings that the last angel had been defeated and NERV was just milking its power while it could. She had stomped out these rumors when she encountered them, reminding them of the 15 year period between second impact and the sighting of the third angel.

Stopping in front of a cat adorned office door, the NERV Major forwent knocking and simply barged in.

"Hey Ritsuko-Chan! Long time no see!" she quipped sarcastically. It had become part of Misato's daily routine to take time out of each work shift to chat with her friend. Plus she made a pretty good cup of coffee.

"Oh, it's you Misato? I thought you would be out drinking by now. Trying to cut back or has Kaji just started refusing to carry you home?" the Chief NERV science officer smirked, not bothering to look up from the terminal she was working on.

"Nah, I have the night shift today, I thought I'd just get in early and catch you before you went home." She responded, helping herself to some coffee. "Er, you do go home right?" she gestured at the piles of empty coffee packets and instant ramen boxes. If one looked closely they would also identify what looked like a sleeping bag under a mountain of crumpled spreadsheet printouts.

Ritsuko shrugged "Where's the home? If it's where the heart is then I'm there. Anyways my domestic problems aside what brings you here in such an upbeat mood today?" The doctor listened as Misato outlined her fight with Asuka and the resulting feeling of relief. "Hmm you could probably find less physically damaging ways to release your tension Misato. Perhaps you could spare Asuka the beating and invite Kaji over instead? As least then the bruising would be confined to places no one could see."

Misato's face colored and her speech devolved into some sort of sputtering denial, at which the scientist finally disengaged her fingers from the key board and turned to face her.

"By the way, I would appreciate if you told Shinji that his sync ration has fallen six points from the last sync test. Ask him if anything is wrong, if we can figure out what it is that's bothering then maybe we can nip this in the bud."

Misato giggled "Shinji talk to me about something that's wrong with him? I think he'd sooner ask Asuka out then let anyone on to what he's feeling."

"Fair enough, but you should try none the less. Anything that helps him to recover his lost sync rate is worth trying." Dr. Akagi plucked the pilfered coffee mug out from Misato's hand and took a swig. Returning it back to the Major she turned her attention back to the monitor in front of her. "Also you might consider not telling him in front of Asuka. The last thing that girl needs is an even larger chip on her shoulder, even though it might increase her sync ratio a few points." She resumed typing, fingers blurring over the keys with remarkable speed.

"Noted." Misato turned to leave "See ya Rits!" The lab coated scientist didn't look up.

"Uh-huh"

…

Shinji paused for a moment on 442 and took a moment to stretch his arms. He had been at it for what seemed like hours, trying to crack the lock on that damnable brief case. He glanced at his watch and confirmed it had only actually been one.

'_Man this sucks, wish I had a damn crowbar.'_ Somewhere in the universe a scientist laughed. Cracking his knuckles he advanced the far tumbler one place.

443

'_Grr. This sucks with a capital fucking S!"_ he fumed. He wasn't even halfway done with the combinations and it had already taken this long. With his luck the correct combination would be 999 and he would spend the rest of the night clicking through the numbers only to end where he should have begun. Furthermore what was to say the damn thing would even open at all?! It could have been damaged when it was dropped or rusted from the exposure to the weather or…

444

Click.

The golden clasps sprang open with such force that he nearly dropped the case in surprise. Shinji placed the suitcase back down on the desk, gripped both edges with his hand, took a deep breath and flipped it open. Great expectations that had been brewing in his head for the past hour, turned first to disappointment, then to general confusion. To be honest he didn't know what he had been expecting to find inside, but a dirty fist sized burlap sack was definitely not it. Picking it up he set it aside, searching the rest of the suitcase for anything else that could be used as clues.

'_Great, now even if I wanted to I couldn't find out whom the damn thing belongs to._' He thought. Sighing at the apparent dead end he picked up the bag and unceremoniously dumped its contents onto the desk top. Reaching he picked it up and held it up to the lamp light.

In his palm sat a statuette of the most curious design. Intricately carved, it depicted a mythological beast of some sort, sitting on its haunches, one arm outstretched in a gesture of beckoning. Out of its hunched back a pair of bat like wings protruded. Its face was a mass of writhing tentacles; its eyes were black gems of some kind and seemed to extrude a palpable air of malice. The hands themselves were tipped in wicked looking razor edged claws and its feet were lizard like in appearance.

The material itself was like no other substance Shinji had ever seen, a green colored rock of sorts with black striations spaced randomly around the surface. As he rotated the grisly figure in the light of the lamp he was disturbed greatly as he noticed the complete lack of reflection the stone provided, despite having a glossy almost oily surface. It seemed actually to be devouring the light, taking it into itself and reflecting a sort of shadowy inverse instead.

Shinji continued to pour over the details of the statue, his eyes eventually drifting down to the base the figure was mounted on. Expecting more words of English persuasion he was surprised to find some sort of angular script of unknown origin instead. It flowed like water when beheld by the eye, a sort of wavering motion that made him dizzy just by looking at it. Forcing himself to take in the eldritch symbols he decided to take one at random and transcribe it to a piece of paper he had sitting nearby.

After finishing in his transliteration efforts he set down the figure and picked up the paper he had just written on. Staring in confusion he looked once more again at the script of the statue and back at the glyphs written on his paper just to confirm his suspicions. Incredibly where he had specifically remembered lifting the statues glyph and copying it exactly as it was on the paper, now stood written a clear series of Japanese characters. Even stranger, they were written in his handwriting, though he clearly didn't remember writing it. He rubbed his eyes to clear his vision, but upon opening them again all was as it had appeared before. Shaking slightly he held the paper up and with some hesitancy read the newly translated words aloud.

"Cthulhu." He whispered, the single word rolling off his tongue like a fine night sea mist.

The temperature in the room clearly dropped by least 10 degrees in the span of a single heartbeat and Shinji's eyes widened as he noticed ice crystals forming in front of him. His breath was actually freezing in mid air! He turned back to the figure, eyes wide with fright. What had he done! This kind of hocuses pocus superstitious crap wasn't real! This was the 21st century! Still internally forming rationalizations, his vision suddenly swam and a headache of truly epic proportions radiated from the back of his skull.

The now forgotten figurine started to grow faintly, the syllables required for its activation now uttered at the correct day of the correct astral alignment for the first time in millennia.

With a lurch his hands rushed forward, seemingly under their own power. He tried to move, to flee to resist, but found he was unable to. Frozen on the spot he watched in horror as a slew of Japanese characters appeared aside the first, his hand scribbling faster than what should be humanly possible. At first he didn't even hear the voice as it gurgled out sounds not meant for use by the human tongue. It took him a couple more seconds to realize it was his! Rising in pitch and speed he spewed forth a torrent of foul babble, pure insanity given form in words.

"…mk'lth hr wet ito, tz'aal murhd de riy'as'harir…" he head himself chant, his ears beginning to bleed from the profane river of blasphemies being given life by his voice. His stomach turned and he felt a surge of vomit as it rose in his throat. His eyes wept, tears running down to mix with snot and pool underneath his now still fingers. He mind reeled from the assault and unholy terror swept through his body, wrapping it in increasingly ever violent convulsions.

His fist slammed down on the table, shattering it down the middle, sending the figure flying off onto the floor. His hands ached and he looked in horror as unseen knots of muscles writhed and grew below his skin like a thousand coiling serpents. Bones dissolved to base elements before reforming thicker and stronger, his brain reconfiguring itself in preparation for enhanced neural activity. He would have screamed had his mouth not been clamped shut as every nerve in his body pulsed and stretched.

As his chanting reached a fever pitch his eyes rolled back into their sockets and his back went taught, bending him over almost double. The pain in his head increased by tenfold and his hands shot to his head as he writhed in agony. Finally capitulating defeat his mind simply shut down and his consciousness fled into deepest recess of his mind, unable to take the assault on his sanity any longer. Shortly after that his lips fell still with the incantation complete and his body collapsed in a pile. His chest stopped its movements, his eyes finally closed. Tense minutes passed and silence once again flooded the room with its presence.

…

The rain continued in its tireless efforts to drown the city below, slowly falling from the sky above to cover the streets. It descended upon one particular apartment in what seemed to be an especially violent matter as though expressing its approval of what was happening within.

One of the two individuals in the apartment was currently having his soul ripped apart by an extra-dimensional demonic entity, while the other was blaring German techno music on her MP4 player.

In one of the rooms the sole occupant lay in a lifeless pile in the center of the room. Vacant eyes stared aimlessly at the ceiling fan. Suddenly it twitched. Its chest rose and then fell weakly, only to rise again, stronger. Its nostrils widened and it breathed for the first time in countless eons, tasted the polluted air of the mortal realm and smiled.

Snapping its eyes open and raising quickly to its feet it wasted no time in retrieving the portal key to the prison that had held it captive since the beginning of man as a species. Holding the statue in its hand, it admired the superb craftsmanship that had gone into the creation of its vessel. Grinning once again, the being currently holding the form of Shinji Ikari crushed the figurine in its fist, relishing the feel of the accursed object as it turned to dust under its iron grip.

After letting the green dust fall to the carpet it stretched its arms languorously. Pausing for a moment it cocked its head to the side. A source of great power lay close, very close. Casually walking over to the cracked desk it pushed the office chair out of the way and opened the closed briefcase. Feeling around the edges it reached down and tore the false bottom out. Breathing in surprise it gingerly reached into the case and retrieved the ancient plain leather bound book. Wrapped in a fine gold chain and coated in dust the thing holding shuddered as it sensed the raw seething energy bound in the pages of the grimoire. Finding such a priceless and rare volume as this so near to its place of awakening could hardly be called coincidence. Fate would be much a better guess or more likely some sort of manufactured plot. However it came to into its possession the thing did not care, instead content in finding it. Lifting it gently it gently unclasped the gold chain and re-clasped it around its neck. As a result it never noticed the extremely advanced wafer thin tracking chip embedded in the back cover of the tome.

Satisfied that the book was secure it turned to more pressing concerns, such as finding out where and when in the world it had been summoned. It turned its perception inwards sending probing feelers into the soul currently cowering in the abyssal reaches of its host's mind.

…

Latching onto its victim it ripped the required information from the mewling presence. The boy's soul screamed as his memories were cut apart and examined, painful and old memories dredged up, half forgotten episodes and things he didn't even remember learning. They flashed past his immaterial eyes, speeding up faster and faster until they simply melded together in an indistinguishable blur.

The Earth, Japan, 2nd Impact, the Evangelion, his father, his fight with the third angel, the capital of New France, his eighth birthday party, his mother's death, the first time he ever rode a bike, the names of every Roman Emperor, meeting Asuka on board the super carrier _Over the Rainbow_, his first kiss.

The memories continued to flow out of him, leaving behind an ever increasingly empty astral shell. Soon however it began to fill with memories of a different sort. A foreign sort, as it turned out the bridge between the two beings was reciprocal. As his memories were wrung out of him they were replaced by those of the things. And they were terrifying.

He saw the universal expanse, infinite in its distance, ever growing. He witnessed the birth of a new being, deep within the nebulous regions of a galaxy on the other side of this plane of existence, delivered out of the very minds of the Outer Gods themselves. The Outer Gods, great beings of infinite power beyond the scope of the human mind to comprehend, who plotted and fought in the titanic regions of barren space between constellations, on a scale too vast and gigantic to be quantified in any existing terms. He remembered the rise of the newly formed being amongst its peers, all of whom could claim origin out of the remnants of emotional refuse extruded by those above. The terrible constant battles the cosmic newborn fought, with every victory devouring more of its fellow's essence; each time growing more and more powerful. Its first steps into a new phase of its existences, self realization, and the acceptance of the name given to it out of fear by its enemies. Cthulhu, the first and greatest of the Great Old Ones, the first of its kind. Howling in agony Shinji mind recalled its final cosmic battle, fighting against the combined weight of the other cosmic beings, those who had banded together to defeat him. He felt its pain and hatred as it was forced to flee its position, flee halfway across the universe until its pursuers finally relinquished the hunt.

Shinji gasped inwardly as he recognized the fertile virgin world that the god finally stopped at. He shivered as it attempted to claim it for its own, only to be challenged by a powerful force that had already done so. The Elder Things, a strange yet majestic race of cephalopod like extraterrestrials whose kingdoms almost covered the earth with their splendor, from the deepest seas to the highest mountains.

Realizing the need for soldiers to fight and win the inevitable war, the Great Cthulhu split portions of his endless mind into fragments, creating a vast horde of lesser being to act as his minions. Using these it crafted the great bastion city of R'lyeh and the implements of war required for its conquest. From there they advanced to build other settlements and forts all the while encroaching ever so closer to the territories of the enemy. Cthulhu-spawn they were called, individual pieces of the whole, created with a measure of independent thought capability, but still dependent on the influence of the original. Man sized, they were miniature anatomically correct copies of their creator. They were mortal, yet something greater, for in death resulted in a return to the All Father, and new chance of reincarnation.

Shinji was smart enough to put two and two together and as he witnessed the brutality of that war he saw it through the eyes of one of these spawn, great battles of a truly epic scale, he realized these must be the memories of the thing that had invaded his mind. The actual memories ended with a flash of light and the chanting of alien tongue as it was banished by the elder things from this plane of existence. From there on the memories became vague and inconsistent. The creature had sat in silence alone, separated by its brothers and father by a veil of reality. It had never learned until its first temporary awakening at the hands of another alien race, the Mi-go, who had discovered the key to his prison and affected a summoning of its astral form. From them it learned of its father's eventual defeat and imprisonment, forced into an artificial sleep by the combined powers of the Elder Things greatest sorcerers, imprisoned until the end of time in the now submerged city of R'lyeh. It also found the fate of its brothers, reabsorbed at the last moment when the battle reached its conclusion, so that the great Cthulhu would be entombed with his mind intact.

The teenager was surprised to find memories of emotional trauma there as well, specifically loneliness and anger, where upon learning it was the last of its kind, its father lost beyond its reach, the demon had become rather depressed. It did however find great amusement in the demise of its former enemy the Elder Things, killed by their own creations in result of foolish pride. Unfortunately before long it had been sucked back into its extra-dimensional prison, as the Mi-go did not possess the proper magic to sustain its psychical form. Thus it had lain for countless years, unaware of the rise of man and the changing of the world.

Shinji's mind reeled with the volume of information that suddenly filled it, truly if it had not been for the vast expanse of time in which the creature had laid dormant his mind would have been obliterated by the sheer magnitude of information. But instead he found himself sent reeling into distress as his consciousness wilted under the attack.

…

The spawn sifted through the available information copying what it needed to its own memories; letting those it deemed insignificant flow past it. Once it felt it had adequate grasp of the information it released its hold on its host, letting the memories flow back to the source, rebuilding the teenager's psyche from the bottom up. The creature let its senses flow outward once again, letting the boy's soul receded into the background. It could not for the time being completely consume its host's soul. It provided a psychic anchor to which the demon could maintain its link to the physical world. It had no other choice, after its corporeal form had been destroyed by the cursed great enemies so long ago, without a host soul it could not draw create a strong enough metaphysical link to exist on this plane. Though the form it now occupied lacked the resilience and strength of his original body, it was infinitely better than the alternative. To be left without a confining vessel in the infinite void between realities to have its existence spread over a limitless gulf. To have its existence stretched out to the point where it could no longer think or exist as an individual. It was the ultimate form punishment; to have its spirit banished to another reality, where had it simply been destroyed in a physical form it would have simply returned to the original to meet bliss in the father consciousness.

It shuddered at it as it recalled that hell. Such thoughts aside it was reminded another condition that it was afflicted with as it felt the gnawing hunger like feeling of its weakening psychic presence. It would have to find a source of magic energy soon, it had expended too much of its energy in its possession of the human. Fortunately it detected huge quantities of mystical energy in every direction.

"Well that is to be expected, judging by the size of this city these primitive's breed like rats after all." The voice that issued forth from Shinji's mouth was unnaturally deep; and if the demon was partial to singing he would have passed as an acceptable baritone. It actually would have been comical if anybody had been around to hear it, such a smooth, rich voice issuing from the body of an adolescent.

Sifting through the memories it had so recently acquired the thing waltzed out of the room, really enjoying the feeling of actually moving around in corporeal once again. Making its way to the kitchen it searched for the tools required for the harvest. Pausing in its search it grinned evilly as it finally found what it was looking for.

Six and half inches of straight steel, the chef's knife was hardly the classical tool for this sort of task, but it would serve the purpose just as well. Sticking the knife in the waistband of Shinji's pants, it started to walk back to Shinji's room when it was distracted by the mirror in the bathroom as it walked by. Curious as to its new appearance the thing walked into the bathroom and smoothed Shinji's hair back.

"Ironic that the innocence of a child would release me into this world. Still though perhaps it's fortunate that he is not of the ugliest sort of these creatures, though it would be easier if his age was greater. However these clothes will not do." The demon had quite a few oddities it had acquired while it had spent its time in isolation and a huge sense of vanity could be counted among them. So it decided at the first chance it had it would take a moment to inspect the host's wardrobe and see if it would go to one of these "stores" and procure new vestments.

The sound of a door opening made it whip its head around. Sifting through the child's memories it concluded that this must be one of the two human females that co-inhabited this domicile. Smiling wickedly it reached for the blade tucked in the small of its back but just let its hand rest on the handle as it reconsidered its course of action. As of now it had no real power or control over its situation, its host was a child and while a unique one at that, his power came from others. Others that would frown upon the murder of one of this Shinji's friends and perhaps restrict access to this Evangelion creation. The very thought of the EVA intrigued the demon and it did not want to lose the chance to experience it firsthand. Of course he could make the victim disappear and try to dispose all evidence, but there was always the chance it could be traced back to it and thusly not worth the risk.

It reluctantly let its hand fall from the blade. The demons heightened senses could hear the approach of the mystery female as she neared the bathroom. He had closed the door but suddenly realized it would be to his advantage to avoid contact with Shinji's roommates as long as possible, or at least until he could replenish his psychic energy. He did not have the time to get back to its room and looking at the state of his 'body', blood covered hands, torn shirt and wrinkled pants, if it was seen it would raise unnecessary and annoying questions. Yes avoidance was the best option here.

Gathering his strength the creature bunched its legs, leapt into the air and wedged itself above the door frame, legs stretching across the adjoining space, holding him in place. It had not bothered to turn the light on being possessed of extraordinary night vision so it had no worry there. Now it prayed to the Sleeping Father that the female would not bother to look up.

Within seconds the door opened and a redheaded female dressed in an oversized t-shirt entered the bathroom, sliding the door closed behind her. The creature flinched unconsciously as she flicked on the light and its hand moved to rest on the knife's hilt and watched as the girl below looked at herself in the mirror. She spent a few minutes playing with her hair, fixing it so it rested evenly between two red hair bands. The demon rolled its eyes.

…

Looking at herself in the mirror, Asuka graced her reflection with an approving smile. Damn she looked good! Of course she always did but that was beside the point.

"Humph, Shinji! We'll just see if you can manage to resist _this_!" She struck what she assumed was a man killer of a pose. "That is if you ever decide to come out of your room"

A quiet snicker rung through the air.

Asuka's head whipped around to the door, her face red with embarrassment. If Shinji had been outside door and heard her say that…

Reaching over to the door she pried it open and peered through the crack. Satisfied that there was no one outside she went back to the sink and retrieved her toothbrush.

'_Must have been my imagination._' She thought to herself as she reached for her tooth paste. Applying a liberal dollop she began brushing her teeth. Finishing with that she looked in the mirror and flashed her biggest smile. Satisfied at the pearly whites shining back at her, she grabbed a brush and started to run it through her hair.

And she began to sing.

…

The demon clutched the host's hands to its head in an effort to drown out the horrid screeching noise coming from below. When that proved ineffective it seriously reconsidered the notion killing the brat. The laugh it had let out had almost forced it to do just that, but fortunately luck seemed to be on its side. So it stayed its hand, for now.

'_But just you wait Asuka Langley Soryu, you'll get yours!'_ It swore silently jaw clenched in pain.

Finally after what seemed to be another instance of eternity the singing stopped and the redhead turned off the lights and left the bathroom. It waited until it heard the sound of her bedroom door closing before dropping to the floor and giving off a sigh. Yes, there would definitely be a reckoning.

After taking a moment to wash the blood from its hands the demon traveled back into Shinji's room and padded over to the single window. It was still raining outside, though it had let up a bit. Going over to the wardrobe, the thing was disappointed but not surprised, it would have to go out and buy some appropriate attire after all. After it dumped its shredded shirt and pants on the floor it picked some clothes. Walking over to the window it straightened the grey sports jacket it had donned, making sure the book and knife were securely fashioned. Satisfied that they would remain so, it hoisted the hosts legs up over the window sill, took one last look around the room. It would return before morning and attempt to clean up, it would have done it now but it couldn't risk running out of steam. It would take all its strength just to complete the current task and it couldn't delay any further. So without hesitancy it slipped gracefully out the window and promptly fell the 50 remaining feet to the wet asphalt below.

…

A/N Well there you have it, my first ever attempt at fiction of any kind. I know, I know, you hear that seemingly every time you get to the end (or for those with no shame, the beginning) of a subpar fic as if it say "IT'S NOT MY FAULT I'M NOT GOD GIVENLY BLESSED WITH THE POWER OF PERSUASIVE AND COHESIVE WRITING! I'M SORRY THAT MY SPELLING AND SYNTAX ARE HORRIBLE, MY PARENTS USED MAKE ME WATCH TELEVISION AND PLAY VIDEO GAMES ALL DAY! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" But hey at least in this instance it's the truth, no matter how god awful it is. Anyways…where was I… oh yeah, reviews welcome, appreciated even. Please, if you find it in your heart, school me in the errors of my writing technique. It's the only way I'll ever learn! I'll try to answer any questions you have and fix the errors you will undoubtedly find. Cheerio.


	2. And gets back up again!

…

300 feet below the surface of Tokyo 3, a man in a standard NERV issue uniform sat behind a desk, warming his hands on a cup of hot Oolong tea. He had picked up the habit of taking tea while tenured in Great Britain over a decade ago and had never given it up. Breathing in the refreshing aroma he leaned back in his chair and smiled. So many years of waiting patiently and now finally the carefully laid plans put forward by himself and his brethren over 1000 years ago were only now coming to fruition.

The illustrious cult had suffered greatly in the years following second impact with many sects, especially those in the more primitive areas of the world, simply vanishing back into the dark. It had taken an entire decade just to reorganize the brotherhood, to recruit new members and recreate their scenario with the modern variables taken in account. However some things had changed for the better and the man smiled as he remembered all those years ago when he had been contacted by NERV, then the GEHIRN Research Program and the resulting excitement that had swelled through the ranks of the cult members. A paramilitary organization above the law and backed by the combined forces of the worlds military and with a basically unlimited bank account? At the time it had seemed too good to be true, but in the following years he had come to terms with the improbable reality that his current situation represented to him as well at the infinite possibilities.

He smiled again, recalling the ease in which he had orchestrated the events behind his "recruitment" into GEHIRN. He had known of the institutions existence for some time, having been given word of it through the cults expansive spy network. All it had taken afterwards was a few strings pulled, a couple of so called friendships made and a trip to Antarctica. From there on in it had been smooth sailings.

After the restructuring of GEHIRN into NERV it hadn't taken much effort to divert some of that limitless supply of funds to finance some of his 'pet' projects. The locating and retrieving of that damn figurine had been the most difficult thing so far, he had lost count of the times he had made excuses to travel on 'work' related trips, only to reach who knew where and find out it had all been for nothing. At one point he had almost given up and turned to his secondary plans, only to receive a call from a peddler of rare antiquities out of Cairo. The description given to him was a perfect match and after he had picked it up and eliminated the witnesses he had spent nearly half a year trying to find the perfect mind to play the part in his schemes. Such as it was that he had discovered the Third Child, Shinji Ikari, his psychological profile amazingly a perfect fit. Incredibly open to suggestion, his mental barriers sufficiently weakened by the emotional distress he had endured, he had been the perfect candidate. Of course his status as the pilot of Unit-01 was an added bonus, since he was already his direct superior it would be easy to keep an eye on the teenager.

It was after all imperative that he remain in his current psychological state and the man had taken great lengths to ensure this. Having the Second Child live in the same household had been a stroke of genius in his opinion, keeping the young man emotionally unstable and full of weak carnal thoughts that would make the transference all the easier. Oh of course some people would call him a monster, taking efforts to ensure the mental anguish of such an already emotionally taxed boy. They would have stated that given the nature of his duty it was imperative to keep him as content as possible; the price of failure for not doing so might just be the destruction of humanity.

He cared not for such paltry concerns. Chaos was his goal, the releasing of ancient forces too mysterious and foreign to properly understand. The same as all of his fellow cultists his wish was to become a denizen of a new realm of moral-less madness and if the burning of the human race had to be accomplished to reach this goal then so be it. The angels and the old men with their ideas of human instrumentality could go to hell for all he cared; his only concern in that matter was preserving humanity until the awakening at which time they would all find a new meaning to the word slavery.

So he had played his part, destroying the Angels as they threatened his plans, playing along with the others as they squabbled and schemed their way to apparent immortality. Fools one could not become a true god without losing oneself and they would find this the hard way. Not to mention that a success in instrumentality would prove disastrous to his plans. So he had set in motion schemes of his own and only now were they finally coming into reality. The possession of the child, his "chance" encounter with him in the alleyway.

Damn, the alley way. He had been forced to kill the man that had agreed to deliver the book to him; the greedy bastard had tried to hold out for more money. It had been a miracle that Shinji had not noticed the corpse and fled, thanks in no small part to the freak rainstorm that had suddenly appeared and was still ravaging the city above.

"My lord works in mysterious ways." He whispered, raising his cup into the air in a salute. The tea now sufficiently cooled he took a sip and was as always delighted at the sweet crisp taste.

A beeping noise began to emanate from his uniform pocket and he removed the small digital tracker. He looked at the map, a small red dot moving quickly along one of the city streets. Nodding to himself he reached into his desk drawer and removed a crusty old book. To the casual observers the book would appear to be just a jumble of random gibberish. But to one who had studied with the immortal elders of the mountain temples of Tibet and traveled by way of spirit walking through the lower worlds, it read as the Book of Eidon. Written in a time before time, its pages held the personal arcane knowledge of the wizard Eidon, who had walked the earth countless eons ago. While it was unknown if he was actually a man or something else entirely; this was not important. What were important was the nature of the information it contained; specifically the rituals and methods of capturing, summoning and destroying all manner of supernatural beasts.

"Time to get to work." The man grinned madly, sliding the book under his jacket flap and checking to make sure his pistol was holstered. He decided to check in on the Command Center first; after all it was good to keep up appearances, no matter how fleeting they might be.

…

Asuka paused at Shinji's door and composed herself. It had been nearly four hours since Shinji had come home and closed himself off in his room. Frankly she was a little surprised he hadn't already apologized for this afternoon. She would have usually found the fact that he had not done so a little heartening. It was after all a sign that she had been waiting for that he had finally started to man up, but right now she really wanted to know why it had taken him so long to make his way home. Making her wait all alone in the middle of the storm, making her feel small and vulnerable once again.

So as she stood at the food of the door she framed the needed attitude in her mind's eye. She would be angry at his rudeness, at his entering the apartment without announcing his presence. After all she could have been coming out of the shower or in another such compromising position (not that she particularly found the concept of being found in any kind of position by him unappetizing, but it had to be on her terms). And so of course she would storm into the room; where upon he would himself in awe of her awesome beautiful righteous anger and apologize profusely. At which time she would demand repayment in the form of dinner and a movie. Since it was still raining outside he would have to agree to it at a later date, time that she would use to drop suggestions and further threats, steering him into the optimal date. Not that she would ever call it that in front of him, as far as he knew it was merely just payback for daring to propose her in front of the class.

So with her course of action selected she nearly threw the door aside and charged inside.

"Baka pervert! Where do you get off…!" the words died in her mouth.

Shinji's room was torn apart in what seemed to be a case of mindless wanton destruction. The only window lay open and the wind whipped the curtain back and forth with wild abandon. Running through the growing puddle, Asuka slammed the window shut and surveyed the damage. The futon was thrown against the wall, shredded beyond all recognition. The desk was cracked down the middle as if some gigantic weight had been thrown down on top of it, papers scattered all around it as the drawers had been torn out and dashed on the ground. Shinji's backpack lay in the center of the room with what appeared to be knife slices covering its surface. Next to it laid an unfamiliar brief case, lying lopsided with its lock open. But most importantly the room's former occupant was nowhere to be found.

Asuka reached in her pocket for her cell phone, whipping it out and hitting the speed dial for her guardian. When the other end finally picked up, she was almost in hysterics.

…

The NERV Command center buzzed with activity, the various techs and comm. Officers all busy with their appointed tasks. Currently that was a privilege that the Tactical Operations Commander begrudged them on. Misato wished she had an appointed job to work on right now. Maybe it would provide her with a distraction, anything to get her mind of the numbing sense of boredom that occupied it right now. Ordered to report to the Command Center to observe operational procedure efficiency, work that roughly translated out to 'busy work' in the Majors mind. She tapped her fingers in frustration.

"Feeling restless Major?" the voice that rang out from behind her caused the officer in her to snap to attention.

"Uh sir, well no, just a little tired sir!" She saluted as the Vice Commander of NERV Kozo Fuyutsuki came to stand beside.

"Enough of that Major, you sometimes forget I'm not a military man." The old man offered a smile and Misato returned in kind.

"Sorry sir, force of habit you know." She said as she reached for her cell phone. Looking at the caller I.D. she flipped it open and turned to the commander. "I'm sorry sure but I should take this."

Kozo waved his hand for her to continue and she placed the phone to her ear.

"Hey Asuka, what's…?" She winced as the redhead's voice blared loudly into her ear.

"MISATO! Shinji, he's…he's gone! I just came in and everything's…he's gone Misato!" Asuka's voice was strained with emotion and in Misato's ear came out as a loud screeching.

"Asuka, Asuka calm down! What's going on? What's going on with Shinji? Asuka slow down!" The vice commander looked at her questioningly and she shrugged.

The redhead's voice came again through the phone although this time slightly more understandable.

"I went into Shinji's room and it's all torn up! He's gone Misato! Shinji is gone!" Misato gasped and pressed a button on her communication terminal to connect her to the Section-2 Chief.

"Asuka just stay where you are, I'll be there as soon as I can!"

"But…!"

"Asuka if you go out looking for him then I'll just have to worry about you too. Just stay put okay?" Misato explained.

"O-okay Misato, I'll be here. Please hurry!" The phone clicked and Misato turned as she felt Fuyutsuki's hand on her shoulder.

"Major Katsuragi, what is going on?" the old man questioned.

"That was the second child; apparently Shinji had disappeared from his room. Asuka also said his room was torn up pretty badly. I was just about to call the Section-2 office for confirmation." The Vice Commander nodded and turned to go.

"I see, well I will inform the commander of the situation. I sincerely hope this turns out to be nothing Major."

Misato shrugged on her jacket and started off towards corridor that led to the surface elevator keying her earpiece.

"So do I vice commander, so do I."

…

"Oh in the name of the Great Father that HURTS!" the spawn moaned as it rolled around on the ground in agony. It had never guessed that even strengthened by the influence of demonic mutation, that the boy's body would not be able to handle the stress of falling twelve stories. But that didn't change the fact that it couldn't._ "Damn no- law of psychics bending material."_ The host's legs were shattered, broken in a dozen places and the demon winced as it moved the bones back into their correct position, willing them to heal and the broken skin to re-knit. After a few minutes of intense concentration it rose shakily to its feet, exhausted both mentally and physically. Now more than ever it needed to find a source of nourishment. Strangely it felt a different sort of hunger, one it had never encountered before. The need for sustenance to replace the lost energy and materials it had used to repair its body. It took a step, agony ripping up its leg, but it ignored it and moved down the street anyways.

Pain was a new experience; it had not experienced it before even when it had first been blasted off the face of the earth so long ago. It wasn't something that now experience it particularly enjoyed. In fact all these sensations and feelings were completely new for the spawn and it was to say the least overwhelming. As bad as Shinji had it, experiencing things never meant for human mind, it had it just as bad if not worse. For unlike Shinji who in the course of his life had, by his experiences developed his own personality and identity, the demon had never developed anything above a simple sentience, following commands passed down through its neural link. It had only developed a concept of individuality while trapped in the void, endless loops of pure thought running back and forth in its mind. Cut off from the controlling influence of the creator it had nothing to do but think and in doing so had developed some concept of self. This had came to be by its reasoning that even though it could no longer sense the Father it still remained, thus it found it existed as a separate entity. I think therefore I am.

Such as it was that the bond that had been shared when it had delved Shinji's mind that the demon had come into contact with and been tainted by, ironically, alien influence. It was no longer its father's child instead something else entirely. How that would affect its future in the long run, it didn't know but for now it had purpose in the simple act of self preservation.

After walking about for about an hour the spawn found itself in what the boy in the back of its head so eloquently described as being a red-light district and it was astounded with the change in atmosphere. Refuse lined the street and groups of homeless people huddled under buildings and storefronts in a futile effort to get out of the rain. The buildings themselves were dilapidated and the smell of wood rot and rusting metal hung thick in the air. In some places there were simply no buildings at all; just the rubble of what remained after some past angel attack, the city never bothering to repair the damage. Yes, this place was perfect for the sort of activities; one human's disappearance would not be noticed.

The host's body itself attracted more than its share of stares from the people on the street. The demon cursed again at its teenage body; it would have been so much easier if the idiot who had ending up summoning it had been full grown. But instead it was stuck and returned the looks with as much menace as it could muster, which given his hosts appearance wasn't very much. Still he tried the best he could and he made it remarkably far before the inevitable occurred.

"Hey little man, whatcha doin' out this late? Don't you know it's dangerous round here?" a hulking man wearing what appeared to be a fish net tank top and sweat pants. "Here let me take you somewhere safe. The brute reached for Shinji's hand and the demon let him pull him into the adjacent alley. When they stopped, the demon was not exactly surprised when three other men drifted in behind them. Pulling his hand away, the spawn stopped in his tracks and the man turned to face him.

"So how exactly is this place safer than the street? I suppose it is less open than th…" he was cut off as the thug punched him hard in the stomach. Bending double the demon found itself once again experiencing the uncomfortable feeling of pain.

The man who had punched him let out a laugh, a cruel hollow sound. "Hey guys I think we nabbed ourselfs a retard!" he bent down until he had his mouth in the hosts ear. "You are a fucking retard you know that right? And were gonna have some fun with you!" he leaned back up "Check this bitches pockets! After you're done we can bleed 'em real…" he cut off, interrupted by a dry rasping sound that he took a second to identify as laughter.

Snarling in rage the leader grabbed the kid by his hair and brought his face up to his. "What the fucks so funny shit-for-brains?!"

The demon shook its head, delighted at this new discovery. So this must be what it was like to have a since of humor. It felt surprisingly…good. Still cackling the spawn looked the man holding his head. "You hurt me, so it's only fair if I do the same to you." He lashed out with his fist, pounding the thug square in the stomach. The look of confusion on the man's face turned quickly to agony as the demon withdrew its fist, the thief's bloody intestines clutched tightly within. Bringing the now convulsing mans innards up to his mouth, the creature bit down, chewed noisily then swallowed, relishing the feel of the meat wriggling down its throat.

Taking another bite he dropped the still twitching corpse and turned to the three remaining men, still having not moved. Taking in the comical nature of their hanging jaws and bugged out eyes, the demon grinned and flashed its bloody teeth, bits of flesh still stuck between.

"I think I'm going to hurt you too." He said picking his teeth while his other hand strayed to the small of his back and eased the hidden knife out from his waistband. The men visibly pale and turned to flee, but the demon was faster. Leaping into action it whipped out the knife and slashed it across the first mans back, severing his spinal cord. As the street scum's legs collapsed underneath him the creature turned to the next man in line pulling him back by his dirty t-shirt and plunging the knife through his chest and out the other side. Leaving the knife in the back of the man it had just stabbed, the spawn turned to the final man and found itself staring down the wavering barrel of a gun.

"DIE YOU FUCKING FREAK!" the man screamed before he pulled the trigger twice in rapid succession.

Snaking to the side, the demon spawn let the bullets pass by his head before plucking the gun out of the thugs hand with contemptuous ease. With his other hand he grabbed the now visibly shaking man and pinned him against the wall. Holding him there he inspected the confiscated weapon, intrigued by its function. Memories taken from the host had been hazy on the subject.

"How does this device work?" it hissed pushing its fist hard enough into the hapless thugs sternum that the bone cracked.

The man gurgled something and the thing shook him. "Where do I get more like it?" The man's eyes stared vacantly into space and the thing dropped him with disgust. Taking the captured handgun it secreted it in one of the jackets pockets before walking over to the second corpse to retrieve its knife. Slipping it back into place it exited the alley, stopping only to stomp on the neck of the paralyzed thug who up until that point had been futilely trying to claw his way to freedom.

…

Misato pushed another Section-2 agent out of the way as she elbowed her way into the apartment. The building was teeming with agents, part of the on-going investigation of the Third Childs alleged disappearance. Just in getting up to the apartment she had been forced to flash her NERV I.D. badge to about twelve different agents. Reaching her destination she paused at the doorway to compose herself before entering. But despite her best efforts she couldn't completely stifle the gasp of surprise and fear as she beheld the carnage before her. Resuming her professional mask with some effort she turned to the nearest agent collecting what looked like some kind of green dust and asked

"Report, what exactly happened here?"

The man stopped what he had been doing and taking off his sunglasses turned to regard her with weary eyes.

"We're not exactly sure Mrs. Katsuragi." He droned before rising from his crouched position and waving a hand around. "The disarrayed nature of the room would suggest some sort of struggle took place, but there seems to be no sign of forced entry. In addition if it was indeed a kidnapping, then why didn't they take the second child as well?"

"You don't know Asuka." Misato murmured

"What?" the agent asked and Misato waved her hand for him to continue. "Anyway we also checked the video surveillance unit outside the apartment. From what we can tell it supports our initial reports from our field agents. According to both sets of evidence no one has entered or left this apartment, until we arrived at least."

Misato crossed her arms. "So what does that mean exactly?"

The agent shrugged. "Well either the perpetrators rigged the cameras in a video loop, in which case our experts will detect it or…" he trailed off.

Misato raised her eyebrow? "Or what?"

The agent sighed. "Or the third child for some reason decided to jump out of his window and someone removed the body before we could retrieve it. The second child did say the window was open when she first entered the room." Noticing Misato's eyes he added "I'm sorry Major."

Misato paused for a second before she quietly replied.

"How do you know someone didn't scale the wall and grab him through the window?"

The Agent shook his head.

"These windows have been upgraded to be flush with the outside connecters, impossible to open without breaking." He pointed to the unbroken panes. "Furthermore it's a straight drop down fifty feet with no hand holds of any kind. If they had used a ladder they would not have had time to complete their objective before they were spotted by a patrol."

"Then what about the patio?!" the Majors voice was strained and her face finally showed it when the agent shook his head again.

"Locked from the inside. Look I'm sorry Ma'am but until we get the security footage properly analyzed, we can't submit our official report." He set a gentle hand on the teary eyed woman's shoulder. "Look Major you can't do any more good here, why don't you go talk to Miss. Soryu, she looked pretty rough."

Reaching up to take his hand Misato looked him in the eyes for the first time. "Thank you, Mr.….?"

The agent smiled. "Yuuta Oritneto."

"Orineto." She finished and returned the smile, before leaving the room to look for Asuka.

She found her in her room, the agents having decided not to move her until a verdict on the current crisis was reached. As it was she was safe enough with almost twenty agents stationed in the apartment and thirty more forming a perimeter outside.

Sitting on her bed the teen had her legs up to her chest and her head buried between them.

"Asuka?" Misato gently asked moving over to her and placing a hand softly on her shoulder. "Asuka are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Go away." The redhead flatly stated, not bothering to move her head from where it lay.

Misato sat down on the bed next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Asuka it'll be good to talk, just tell me what's wrong? It won't get better if you don't tell me about it."

'I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!" the girl screamed whipping her head up and regarding the startled Major with blood shot eyes. "SHINJI'S GONE AND HE'S NOT COMING BACK! THERE ARE YOU HAPPY?!" she slumped her head back between her knees and began whimpering, back heaving in tiny sobbing motions.

Misato stared at the girl in front of her and was shocked by how small and vulnerable she appeared. It contrasted so brightly with the world renowned top EVA pilot that she usually portrayed. But for all her fighting spirit, Asuka was after all about 90% ego, the remaining ten percent 14 year old girl. It was so easy to forget about that side of her, as completely covered as it was in all the anger and bravado and at that moment Misato felt closer to the redheaded EVA pilot than she ever had before.

Putting her arm back around the shaking teen and hugging her tight, Misato ran her fingers through Asuka's beautiful red hair.

"Shh, Asuka it's going to be alright. Shinji's fine, you'll see. He'll come back, he always does. Shh, it's okay just let it out."

At first Asuka tried to pull away from the Major's embrace, but Misato just held on tightly. Eventually the girl stopped struggling, realizing from Misato's words that this was for her own benefit as much as hers. So she relaxed and let the purple haired woman hold her.

They sat like that for a while, before Asuka finally managed to stop crying and looked up at Misato with a tear streaked face.

"Misato?" she whispered.

"Yes Asuka?" she replied wiping a single errant tear from her charges face.

"If you ever tell anyone about this I will kill you." She stated eyes narrowed.

Misato smiled and hugged her close.

"I wouldn't expect anything else." She stated before her smile turned unexpectedly to a frown '_Shinji, you'd have better be alright. Otherwise I know two women here who will never forgive you._'

…

"Hey baby. Let's say 10,000 yen and I show you a good time?"

The Shinji-spawn grinned and turned to eye the woman that had just propositioned it. 'Bingo.'

"Hey doesn't sound like such a bad idea." The whore flashed a fake smile and motioned for it to follow her into the cheap motel they were currently standing in front of. It followed her into the lobby, past a sleeping hotel manager, up some stairs and to a hotel room. Unlocking the door, the woman gestured for it to enter, closing and locking the door behind her. The demon inspected his surroundings, from the well worn bed and the ratty curtains to the ash tray full of burnt out cigarettes.

"Make yourself at home stud, I'm just gonna go freshen up a bit." She said flashing another glass smile before disappearing into the tiny bathroom.

The spawn took her advice, removing its jacket (making sure to wrap its gun and knife securely and out of sight) and placing it on the chair. It then plopped down on the edge of the bed, feeling the rusty springs groan underneath its weight. Listening to the sound of running water coming from the bathroom, it laid back on the bed with its hands behind its head. Without asking for it, a memory taken from the boy it had come to know as Shinji Ikari came into being inside its head.

He was sitting on the couch, watching T.V. when he heard the voice of the female Asuka shouting from the other room.

"Hey baka come here!"The sound was less than pleasant and the demon shuddered as it recalled the redheads singing earlier.

"Okay Asuka." it felt himself or rather Shinji get up and enter the kitchen. "What is it?"

The female had her head down on the kitchen table staring at him as approached. She was wearing cut off pants and a yellow tank top. The demon didn't understand why this part of the memory was so relevant to the other but for some reason it felt it was important.

"I'm bored," she said sitting up straight. Shinji/it noticed the mischievous gleam in her eyes. "Do you want to practice kissing?" it was posed as a question, but as he felt the others reaction it seemed to be an order, one he was only too willing to fulfill.

"Su-sure." Its other half managed to croak out (and it was its other half it had realized, they were after all stuck in this together).

The female smiled and stood up. Approaching ever so slowly she finally reached where he/it stood. Their eyes locked and she bent her head ever so slightly forward.

'_Gah! What is this feeling! This is really fucking uncomfortable, like butterflies or something trying to crawl out of my stomach!_' it thought as Shinji moved his head ever so slightly forward. Met halfway their lips brushed lightly together and for the slightest fraction of a second, the demon understood perfectly the entirety of the human condition and a feeling of utmost exhilarating nature overtook its senses.

Then a sharp and painful pinching sensation came into being and the creature felt its/his breath slowly fading until it was forced to break from the kiss.

'_ARGH BITCH! RUIN A PERFECTLY GOOD MOMENT_!' it fumed, angry that the redheaded female had interrupted the source it's euphoria before it had a chance to locate and dissect it.

'_Oh yes Asuka Langley Soryu your day will come!_' it let out a cackle and gripped its hand into a fist.

Its ranting was interrupted however as the door to the bathroom finally open and its psychic dinner finally made her appearance. Sitting up on the bed it inspected the unusual appearance of the female before it. Having shed her tank top, mini skirt and leggings she was only clad in a matching set of black bra and panties. Standing so it could look at her better it was surprised as to how much younger she appeared without her clothes on.

"So what do you think? Do you like?" she teased and the spawn felt and abstract notion in his body, one that was most definitely human in origin.

Reaching for her, intent on inspecting and feeling the material her bra was made of (Yes that must have been it.) it was surprised when she slapped its hands away, at least until she *harrumphed* and held out a hand of her own.

"Oh yeah, sorry I forgot about that." It replied reaching into its back pocket and pulling out its wallet. Pulling out the required amount it handed to her.

Grabbing it from its outstretched hand she looked at him in confusion. "Say, you don't have to answer this if you don't want, but how old are you?"

The demon shrugged, getting impatient with all the delays. "Fourteen, is that a problem?"

Face red, the hooker shook her head. "No, no. You probably get this a lot but it's just that your voice is so mature, like you're actually a lot older than you look."

Inside the spawn was laughing its head off. '_Yeah, just a few million years older!_' "Yeah, now can we…?" it said glancing down at her scantily clad bosom.

"Oh, sorry, sure." She reached back and undid the clasp on her bra, her breast jiggling slightly as she removed it.

The spawn smiled, its teeth bared.

"That's just great because I'm starving!"

The young woman's eyes widened slightly, but she never had the chance to figure out if it was an innuendo or not, as its arm rushed forward and closed around her throat like a steal vice.

Struggling vainly the hooker gurgled something unintelligible before her head slumped forward and she fell into state of unconscious.

Catching her in its arms, the demon placed her gently on the bed before starting its macabre work.

Retrieving the knife from its jacket, the creature removed the soiled comforter and began to cut long strips of fabric from it. Tying these together to form crude set of bindings it tightly secured the still unconscious woman. Tying her hands to the bed posts then her feet to the metal bed legs, it tested the strength of the bonds by tugging on them until it was satisfied with the results. Taking a wad of fabric it opened her mouth, shoving it inside then holding it in place with another strip tied in between her teeth and around the back of her head.

Satisfied that she wasn't going anywhere soon, the spawn sat down on the bed next to the woman and stroked her bleach blonde hair. After a moment it leaned over grabbed the knife from the nightstand where it had left it. It had to get this over with; it could feel the strain on its soul, as the suction between this plane and the next increased, threatening to take it with.

Straddling the woman's torso, it began the incantation of capture and shuddered as it felt the release of pent up eldritch energies.

"Rep'l mar'koth bal urgot den por'y, gedn mar'koth bal regot den por'y." it chanted. Magic began to flow uninhibited around it. Swirling vortexes of primal force gathered in such quantities that it became visible to the naked eye. Multi colored and ever changing the mystical winds began to circle around the bed, spinning faster and faster as the incantation progressed. A tendril of pure red energy snaked from out of the maelstrom and traced the edge of the spawn's knife. The now blessed tool's blade began to glow at first a fiery orange before slowly becoming pure white. The heat was intense and the demon could feel sweat dripping down off the host's forehead.

…

Deep underground within the NERV Geo-Front command center, Dr. Akagi sat at a computer terminal going over the latest diagnostics test performed on Unit-00. The doll Rei had been having trouble syncing up to the unit recently and the Commander had ordered her to figure out the cause. The fact that he had done so after one of their passionless love making sessions had only served to insult her further. So here she was, 22:00 hours, coming off from working eighteen hours straight, forced to go another three. '_Life just isn't fair!_' her dour thoughts were interrupted by the shout of senior technician Maya Ibuki.

"Senpai, we have an anomalous energy signature being detected by ground level sensors within the city limits!"

Ritsuko put down her spreadsheets with a sigh and dragged herself over to where the younger woman was sitting. "What pattern is it?"

Her question was answered by Makoto Hyuga, the glasses wearing techie staring intently at the screen in front of him.

"Unknown, it's a type we've never encountered before! I'm reading energy spikes across the entire spectrum!"

"Can you track it?"

"Yeah just give me a second." His fingers flew over the keyboard in front of him as he tried to home in on the signal. "Okay I'm getting a weak location ping, but I can narrow it down to a three block area in the city's Fukka district!"

"Notify Section-2 and all nearby JSSDF units to converge on the target area. I want to know what is causing that reading! Also alert the pilots and send retrieval teams to bring them in."

"Already on it." The third computer technician stated, flipping his shoulder length hair back in a decidedly feminine manner.

"That's what she said!" Makoto quipped and the two men high fived each other.

"Idiots." Maya grumbled.

Dr. Akagi just rolled her eyes instead. "Aoba, Makoto, why don't you keep the retarded pop culture references to your selves in the future, especially when they've been outdated for like eight years?"

"Yes Ma'am." They stated simultaneously.

"Good now that we got that out of the way perhaps you could find the time to find me that FREAKING SIGNAL!"

The verbal part of the spell now complete the creature from beyond lowered the searing knife down to the canvas of skin below and began to draw. First came the sign of its patron, the gates of R'lyeh, carved into the chest just above the heart. The woman's eyes snapped open in agony at the first touch of the blessed blade and a scream issued from her throat, thankfully muted by the gag. After completing the first, it began work on the second. The sign of capture, a box within a box surrounded by runic symbols, was etched into the left arm just above the elbow.

Finishing the second it turned its attention to the third, the sign of displacement. Taking his time to really do the task to the best of its abilities it managed to mete out the circle bisected by square design on the woman's right arm, each dip of his knife accompanied by a muffled scream.

Wiping its sweat laden forehead with the back of its hand it took a break to survey its work in progress. Glancing up it met the woman's eyes for the first time, a pleading mixed with agony.

Smiling sadly, it wiped a strand of sweat stained hair out of her eyes.

"Hush now, it's almost over. Soon you'll be at peace. The end is just the beginning, believe me." It lied, the sweet words flowing from its tongue like molten honey. In fact it had no idea what happened to human souls after death, but considering the fact that it was about to consume her soul utterly it really didn't make much of a difference. However if it could prevent an unnecessary mess with false assurances then so be it, it didn't hurt to be nice after all.

For some reason she didn't seemed very reassured.

"Ungrateful wench." It muttered as it started as the fourth and final sign over the woman's navel. By this point the woman merely whimpered with each slice, her energy spent. As it completed the final sign of transference, the runes, which had been previously been bleeding copious amounts of blood, now began to glow. A sickly green light bathed the scene and as it began to carve the twin connected squares of transference on its own arm the air cooled.

Arm dripping blood it raised the knife over the gates of R'lyeh.

'_Pity the path lies between two mountains._' It thought and with a final flourish brought the knife down full force in the exact center of the woman's heart. It pierced up to the hilt and the white hot blade cauterized the flesh around it instantly, preventing any blood from mixing with that of the symbol. The symbols themselves blazed with renewed fervor, before slowly fading.

The sacrifice's chest fell still as the last of her lifeblood was finally spent and the spawn waited expectantly for the fruit of its labors.

It turned out it didn't have long to wait as a pure white tendril issued forth out from around the embedded knife and traveled the distance to the symbol it had carved on its arm. As the prostitute's former spiritual essence wormed its way through the demons body, the creature felt all fatigue it had experienced during the last couple hours fade. Instead it felt a sense of great fulfillment and release.

Its psychic energy meter now at last full, the demon laid back on the bed next to the newly formed corpse, uncaring of the bodily fluid that had soaked the sheets. As it crossed its hands behind its head again, a strange urge over took it and it picked up the woman's purse. Finding what it was looking for it pulled a cigarette out of the carton and lit it with a pilfered lighter. Taking a long hard puff it leaned back and adjusted the pillow beneath its head.

Expelling the smoke in a giant billowing cloud, the spawn closed its eyes.

…

"Dr. Akagi the signal has ceased transmission!" Makoto exclaimed, pointing to his now empty monitor. "Make it at exactly 22:45."

Ritsuko moved over to stand behind the technician, rubbing her bleary eyes with the back of her lab-coats sleeve.

"Okay, so it wasn't an angel. It wasn't pattern blue or orange, and it wasn't located anywhere the Geo-Front. But just because we haven't seen this sort of thing before doesn't mean it's not dangerous. Mr. Shigeru what's the status of those ground units?"

"The JSSDF has succeeded in cordoning off the target area. They have roadblocks at all the major intersections. We also have plain clothes Section-2 agents watching the pedestrian throughways checking I.D.s and restricting cross district traffic."

"Alright, we're going to have to assume that energy field was generated by some sort of electronic pulse emitters, so we'll instruct the ground crews to search for any sort of broadcasting dish or satellite array. Makoto send a heads up to the ground elements to begin their sweep."

"Hai!"

Satisfied that things were moving along acceptably, Ritsuko picked up the landline and dialed the extension for the commander's office.

"Commander Ikari, the teams are beginning their sweeps now. Yes, I'll monitor from here. Okay." She slammed the phone back onto the cradle and lowered herself wearily into a chair. Reaching into her coat pocket, she removed a carton of cigarettes and stuck one in her mouth. Gumming the cigarette she ignored the disapproving look sent her way by Maya.

"Senpai you, um, know that NERV is a non-smoking facility…" she left the sentence hanging and Ritsuko lowered her lighter and stuck the cigarette back behind her ear.

"Yes Maya I realize that." Dr. Akagi replied grumpily. '_Damn you to hell prejudice smoking ordinances!_'

"Ma'am the JSSDF reports that they have begun their sweep and are currently sweeping the first block." Aoba called "They also add that there has been no evidence of any kind of sophisticated electronics suite so far."

"Tell them to continue their operation." She responded and the technician spoke into his head set. She didn't know what exactly could of possess that amount of power needed to generate a wave of that magnitude, at least anything without access to an S-2 engine, but she was confident now that it was confirmed an angel was not involved that whatever had been responsible would be taken care of. An infantry battalion of heavily armed JSSDF soldiers and over two dozen Section-2 Agents would make sure of that.

…

It was almost midnight when the man placed the mini-tracker back in his pocket and walked into the lobby of the run down motel. He didn't have much time left, just barely slipping through a checkpoint before all access had been restricted. Already he could hear the shouts and occasional gunshots as the less forgiving denizens of the neighborhood clashed with the encroaching government forces.

He had narrowly avoided the roving bands of Section-2 personnel, who were randomly stopping pedestrians and checking IDs. Not that he was outside his jurisdiction, but his presence here would cause too many unwanted questions. As such he had taken steps to preserve his anonymity, stripping out of his NERV uniform and changing into a black hoodie and jeans. Concealing his .45 Glock 36 in his front pocket, he had ghosted through the darkened streets, fitting in with the various gang members, druggies and bums. Every once in a while he would stop, pull out his tracker and regain his bearings, each time getting closer and closer to his intended destination. The target had stopped moving once, but had soon left the area, moving until it had reached its current location, where it had remained relatively stationary for the past half hour.

Pulling out the locater, he walked through the lobby, past the still dozing manager, up to the second story and down a hallway. Pausing in front of room 24, he doubled checked the tracker to confirm his initial findings. Satisfied that he wouldn't be breaking into the wrong room he re-sheathed the tracker and looked both ways down the hallway before pulling his gun out. Chambering a round, he took a deep breath to calm himself, took a few steps back and crashed into the flimsy door, breaking the lock and flying into the room.

…

The door literally flew off its hinges and the spawn reacted instantly; grabbing the knife out of the corpse and throwing itself off the bed. Before it could enact any other action, the hoodie wearing man who had barged in raised his gun.

"Relax," he said pointing his gun away from the demon. "Cthulhu fhtagn."

The spawn did a double take, its mouth dropping in shock.

"What did you just say?" the phrase roughly translated in the language of the Great Old Ones to mean Cthulhu waits, but the mere notion of one of these apes having knowledge of the sacred All Father was blasphemy. The spawn held its knife at the ready in a reverse grip, legs coiled in anticipation.

The man let out an audible sigh. ""Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn." He completed the whole mantra. "Look I don't have time to explain everything, but we need to get out of here right now. That little stunt you pulled," he gestured at the mutilated corpse "showed up on the NERV. ground level phase shift detectors. As we speak they have about a thousand soldiers establishing a full quarantine around this neighborhood and they're sending sweep teams to search for the source of the disturbance. However I cannot allow myself or your host to be spotted anywhere near here, so we have to leave now!" he reached for the spawns hand but it jumped backwards kicking out with a foot and hitting the jacketed mystery man in the stomach, causing him to bend at the waist.

The spawn didn't know what to think of this new development. It had encountered such a cult before when it was briefly revived by the Mi-go all those years ago. They had been dedicated to bringing its master out of his sleep state and had actually only revived him to probe for information. It had known nothing of value but still the thought had never occurred to it that the cult would have survived for so long and taken root among the human race. It was a heartening thought to say the least, the chance to see its father returned to its former glory was worth any risk. An association with such a like minded organization would be beneficiary for both parties. However it had instantly recognized the man's voice from the boys recovered memories and didn't know whether it could trust him.

"How do I know I can trust you? You who holds such a high position in the very organization that you claim to be hunting me, for all I know this could just be an elaborate scheme to get me to capitulate what little advantage I have. I am not stupid Vice Commander; I can smell the stink of the arcane on you, which to be honest is the only reason I haven't killed you yet."

The man started, but quickly regained his composure, dropping back his hood and revealing the wizened faze of Kozo Fuyutsuki underneath. He put his gun away and smiled. "So you did interface with the boy, fascinating. But right now we need to move. As for proof of my trustworthiness, how about the fact that it was I who orchestrated your escape, ensnaring the boy and providing you with a copy of the _Necronomicon, _which by the way was obscenely hard to come up with. So if I was intending to double cross you why would I have you summoned by a fourteen year old boy at an unsecured location and give you possession an incredible powerful artifact?"

The demon sat for a second trying to find a hole in the man's logic.

"Because your experiments were unsanctioned by your superior's and now that they've gone to hell you're trying to cover your tracks? But that still doesn't explain the book or your knowledge of forbidden lore." It nodded its head. "Okay grandpa, I'll go with you for now." Fuyutsuki visibly relaxed and opened his mouth to speak, but the spawn continued, raising his finger to stab at the man. "But if I for even a split second think you're trying to screw me, I'll rip your soul out from your desiccated viscera and make a lunch of it! You got me?!"

Kozo smiled and gestured for it to follow him as he left the hotel room. The spawn wasted no time, grabbing its jacket; it wiped the bloody knife on the bed sheets and stuck it in his waistband. Grabbing the deceased gang bangers gun he shoved it in the front of its trousers, putting the jacket on and concealing it underneath. It turned to depart, but slapped itself and went back to the hooker's purse and pulled out its money. Sticking it back in its wallet it turned to face the corpse for the last time and blew it a kiss.

"You were great babe!" it cackled and hurried off after Fuyutsuki and found the vice commander waiting impatiently.

"What the hell were you doing in there?" his voice hissed from the black confines of his hood.

"Just getting my refund." The spawn returned.

Kozo just rolled his eyes and started cautiously down the hallway, wary of the demon a few paces behind. Heading down the stairs, the odd couple headed towards the lobby. Hearing a commotion up ahead, Kozo motioned for the spawn to stay and crept forward to investigate.

What he saw made him curse silently, as he witnessed the formerly sleeping manager arguing with a trio of JSSDF troops. From what he could overhear the soldiers were asking permission to search the motel, but the manager wasn't having any of it. At least he wasn't until one of the uniformed men raised his weapon threateningly at which point the guy quickly nodded his head and backed away.

Creeping back to where he had left the spawn, Kozo explained the situation. "Look, we can't let them see you. I can't vouch for the JSSDF but I know that the Section-2 Agents will recognize you on sight. And if that happens we're done for. So therefore if we get made, there's going to be no mercy given. We can't have them reporting what they know. Do you understand?"

The spawn laughed "Did you seriously expect me to have a problem with that?" it made a fist and loudly cracked its knuckles. "Just stay the fuck out of my way."

The old man smiled, but didn't reply, instead quickly walking down the hallway towards the flicking "EXIT" sign at the back of the hotel. As he moved he hugged the wall, hand with a tight grip on his concealed pistol. The spawn followed close behind, bouncing along as it walked. It was exhilarated at the prospect of more violence; fully refreshed and recharged it was itching to cause some bodily harm.

The thoughts of violence reminded it of something and as the pair reached the rear exit door, it tugged on the Professor's shirt sleeve.

"I have something to ask you," it said reaching under its jacket and pulling out the stolen pistol "How does this device work?"

Fuyutsuki groaned and reached over to pick up the .38 snub-nose revolver. Holding it up so the spawn could see, he briefly outlined the function and concept, pulling out the cylinder to reveal the shells. Taking the spent cartridges, he skillfully flicked the gun up to close the magazine before handing it back to the demon, who stowed it back under its jacket.

"You know the memories from the boy I have of you don't suggest any sort of martial training. I wonder where a lowly professor like yourself could have acquired such skills." It asked.

"Let's just say I've done my part for the cause on more than one occasion. Ask me again when we're not in mortal danger and maybe I'll take time to explain." The old man pushed open the door and took a quick peek outside. Finding the coast clear he stealthily made his way out the alley and into the street and the spawn followed.

Trying to keep out of sight as much as possible, they slowly made their way down the half flooded streets. Several times they were forced to duck into side alleys as squads of poncho clad and flashlight wielding soldiers marched past, but each time they managed to remain undetected.

After about 15 minutes of walking they reached the cordon zone that the JSSDF had set up. Stopping just before the area illuminated by the high powered flood lights the government troops had set up; Kozo led them into a side alley and crouched against the wall, motioning the spawn to join him.

"Okay, we have no hope against fighting are way through that checkpoint. It's too heavily defended and they heavily outgun us. Now that would normally be a problem, but I've been thinking of a way to bypass it entirely. Do you see that fire escape up there?" the old man pointed to the platform, a good 20 feet off the ground and the spawn nodded. "Do you think you can reach that?"

Leaning back, the demon shielded its eyes with its hand and squinted up into the rain.

"Yeah I think so. But I don't think I can reach back for you once I get up there."

"That's okay, just release the ladder and I'll be able to climb up to you, once we're on the top we can cross the building top and exit on the other side, past the JSSDF's lines."

It was a good plan the creature had to admit, though it didn't have to like the lack of violent content. Lining up the host's body with the platform above, it crouched in preparation for the herculean feat. Exploding into action, it rose quickly into the air, ten, fifteen, twenty feet. Reaching out it snagged the edge of the fire escape, wasting no time in clambering up and over the side. As it reached for the lever to release the lever, it stopped and held its hand.

It could leave Kozo behind right now, climb the rest of the way up and make its escape scot free. But there would go its cover, as it was sure Fuyutsuki wouldn't waste any time in turning it in. And so far the man from NERV hadn't shown any signs of betrayal.

"What are you waiting for!" issued a hiss from below, Kozo clearly catching the spawn's hesitation. "We have to keep moving!"

The spawn made its decision and pulled the lever, cringing at the might clank it made as it bottomed out. Vibrations on the platforms infrastructure told it the old man was making the climb with little difficulty and the demon held out its hand to offer assistance. Reaching top Kozo took the proffered hand and was hoisted onto his feet.

"Having second thoughts?" he said glaring. "Well what are you waiting for? Let's go!"

Performing with its finger what it had learned from his worldlier half as an extremely offensive gesture the creature made its way up the flight of stairs. Stopping at the final landing, it reached up and grabbed onto the roof ledge, intent on pulling itself up. It could see the glow of lights emanating from the roof top, some running lights or something, which would make it much easier to navigate.

It wasn't until it had pulled itself up to its stomach when it noticed a pair of expensive leather shoes standing in front of him. It let its eyes trail up past the black pants, past the simple black suit and tie, to finally rest on the sunglass bedecked face of a Section-2 agent, complete with earpiece and very large gun. The latter of which was currently pointed directly at its head along with the probing beam of a flashlight. The demon closed its eyes and prepared itself for the hail of bullets, unable to dodge adequately in such an awkward position. What it received instead was a startled female voice.

"Shinji Ikari?" the female agent asked, utterly baffled at the seemingly random appearance of the missing Third Child.

The demon internally fist pumped. "Y-yes." It externally managed in what it hoped was a voice full of fear. The softening of the agent's facial muscles as she relaxed told it had succeeded.

"Hold on I'm gonna help you up, okay?" she said, holstering her gun as she bent over and offered the spawn a hand. It grinned and reached up, grabbing the agents hand in a bone crushing grip.

"Thanks!" it cheerfully exclaimed as it grabbed onto the roof with its other hand and pitched the agent off the roof.

Falling close thirty feet, she landed with a wet thud; instantly killed as her neck snapped like a toothpick.

Quickly pulling himself up the rest of the way, the spawn dusted off its hands and turned to help the professor up. The old man waved off its help and sprang to the top with surprising agility. "That was close."

"Well you know a kind fool is always easier to sucker." It cheekily replied.

"Yeah well then what are we going to do about them?" the spawn whirled around and found itself facing an entire squad of pissed off looking; body armor laden JSSDF shock troops. They held their rifles at the ready position, having received orders not to open fire unless provoked, but having just witnessed a full grown woman thrown to her death by a grinning lunatic teenager, they weren't taking any chances. And it didn't look like they were going to pull any punches either, whether they didn't recognize the hosts body or they just didn't care it looked like things were about to get very ugly.

All the better. "We kill them!" the spawn laughed and let its hand speed to the revolver, whipping it out faster than the human eye could follow and firing off two shots.

The soldiers cringed as the poorly aimed shots sped over their heads, before whipping up their assault rifles and spraying the air with lead. However the seconds' hesitation had been enough and as Fuyutsuki dove to the right behind an air conditioning unit, the spawn retrieved its knife and leapt into the air leaving an empty space behind, occupied seconds later by thousands of bullets.

Landing directly in the center of the stunned group of soldiers, the demon impacted with the kinetic force of a small car, caving in the ribs of the unfortunate it landed on. Raising itself from the fallen man it turned to the nearest soldier and smashed the barrel of the revolver through his teeth.

"I think I need practice!" it laughed manically as it pulled the trigger, obliterating the back of the trooper's skull. "Don't you agree!?"

…

Kozo watched in awe as the demon butchered the soldiers. It was truly amazing to watch it work, turning violence and bloodshed into an art form, silencing two of the eight in as many seconds. It was truly a thing of beauty.

However Kozo's appreciation of the finer things was rudely interrupted as two soldiers broke off from the brawl and began to move towards him.

"Bloody hell." He muttered as he pulled out his pistol and flicked the safety off. "I'm getting too old for this."

Cutting the corner off his cover he aimed his pistol and fired a trio of shots, impacting the nearest soldier on the arm and chest. The man screamed as he dropped his rifle, the hollow point taking a huge chuck of meat out of his bicep. However by this time the second had rushed the gap and Fuyutsuki was forced into a front roll as he narrowly stayed ahead of the stream of bullets. Landing on his feet the professor rounded the corner of the unit, pressing his back to the flimsy aluminum casing. Leaning out he fired a flurry of shots in rapid succession before ducking back behind cover.

However the pursuing soldier had been expecting this and threw himself to the ground as soon as the old man had shown himself. Struggling back to his feet under the weight of his equipment, the soldier fired at the corner, ripping chunks of metal out of the casing, flying like shrapnel through the air.

A chunk of metal pierced Kozo through the old man's hoodie and he sagged. Seizing the opportunity the soldier rushed forward and smashed the butt of his rifle into the still reeling old man. As Fuyutsuki fell to his knees he managed a last ditch effort, spinning around to land on his back. His pistol was already out and aimed at the grunts face. All he had left to do was pull the trigger which he did, repeatedly; unfortunately during his fall the receiving bolt become dislodged so instead of the sound of a satisfying blast all that came out was a dull clicking sound.

Kozo gulped.

The soldier kicked the pistol from his nerveless fingers and brought his rifle up to his shoulder.

The professor closed his eyes and muttered a prayer the Dread Lord.

"Say goodbye motherfucker!" the man snarled and his finger tightened around the trigger.

Kozo didn't respond to the threat, but instead choked out a single word.

…

The spawn dropped the man it had just killed, letting the revolver fall away with the body. Not wasting any time to jest the spawn took a running start and slide between the legs of the nearest trooper. As it passed underneath the surprised man, it swiped its knife through the poor bugger's crotch, severing the femoral artery and passing clear through. The spawn scrabbled to its feet but was knocked back down as one of the soldiers assault rifles barked, spewing NATO 5.56x45mm slugs into its shoulder.

Growling angrily, the demon rolled to a crouch as bullets pinged into the concrete all around it. The other remaining soldier aimed his weapon as well and added to the weight of fire. The two of them angled their fire diagonally catching the spawn in a devastating crossfire, shredding its stomach into a red pulp. It would have been a mortal wound on any man. But the spawn was no longer such a thing and it sprinted towards the two last standing combatants, ignoring the multiple meaty impacts across its chest. It reached the first of the pair and slashed downward with its knife which the trooper blocked across its rifle. Pushing hard, the spawn pushed the man on to his back. Meanwhile the second soldier, who had been holding fire in fear of hitting his comrade, rushed forward with his combat knife, intent on stabbing the spawns exposed back.

The spawn heard the rushed approach of the charging man and pivoted on his right foot, swinging its arm around with blinding speed, slicing almost entirely through the man's neck. The running man's momentum carried him forward and the spawn caught him in open arms, spinning him around to block the shots from the prone soldier. The partially decapitated body's torso soaked up the bullets, shuddering with each impact, until the soldier's gun ran empty with a click and the demon tossed the cadaver aside. Stalking over to where the final soldier struggled on the ground to put another magazine in his rifle, the demon hauled the soldier up by his body armor's shoulder straps. It pulled him up to its face; its jaws reached forward and bit a huge chunk out of the man's face.

Swallowing nosily, the Shinji-spawn let the screaming man fall to his knees. Then reaching down, it pulled the pins out of the grenades festooned on the vests webbings and dove to the side.

*KABOOM!* A blast wave of heat and pressure passed over the spawns head.

Peeking out with one eye from in between its arms it wasn't surprised to learn that very little remained of that within the blast radius. Half an arm, the smoking remains of a torso, a surprisingly intact boot. The immediate area was a scorched ruin, covered with bits of blood and guts.

Rolling over onto its back, the spawn let its arms flop to the sides. It clenched its teeth as rainwater filtered down on its open wounds The damage to the host body was intense, a wound in the shoulder, a huge amount of shrapnel located in its back, second and third degree burns from the explosion. The worst of it however was located on its abdomen; where the internal organs had been severely damaged by bullets. If it had not have replenished its psychic energy the spawn held no illusions that it would be dead, as of now it was taking up most of power just to keep from bleeding out. The remainder it tasked with repairing its shredded gut. Already it could feel new cords of tissue being grown as they stretched to patch the holes in its stomach lining.

As it lay there staring at the sky, it was unaware of the figure that walked up and stood behind it, nearly jumping out of its skin when he spoke.

"Are you just going to lay there until we get caught, or are you expecting me to carry you?" Kozo's face was obscured beneath his hood once again, but there was no hiding the amusement in his voice. "Can you move?"

The demon looked down and saw that the skin had completely healed over. It sat up and grimaced at the shooting pains in its back. "I'll try, say didn't you get shot back there?" it asked.

"Word of power," the hoodie clad figure replied clutching its side. "Blew the unlucky chap's head clean off. Of course now I'm going to have a headache and spit up blood for a week but I figured it was better than the alternative." He reached down and helped the wavering demon to its feet. "Come on, that explosion is sure to attract attention." He turned and ran across the now empty rooftop. The demon followed, but only after retrieving its revolver from the mouth of a dead soldier.

Above the sky continued to pour forth its tears.


	3. Kozo'ed

With morning an end to the rains had finally come. The half-drowned city cried its relief and worked to repair the damage. All in all it had not been so bad, just a few neighborhoods suffering from any serious flooding. Tokyo 3 was a modern city and its central drainage system was state of the art. As a result it was the poorer districts, less maintained and looked after, that suffered the worst.

'_Lousy slum hole. Whatever happened to urban renewal_?' Ritsuko grumbled as she waded through yet another ankle deep puddle. As her boot made contact with something squishy she cursed the circumstances that had forced her out into this mess. She had only traveled out to the Fukka district by order of the Commander himself. The location of the wave anomaly that had occurred last night, it was currently under lock down, the citizens ordered to remain in their homes.

'Not that the animals will ever listen.' She fumed angrily as a yet another catcall issued from the side of the street, courtesy of a member of the local homeless population. Ritsuko shot the scruffy looking man a glare and he responded with a gap filled smile.

"Way to go Ritsuko! You sure do make an impression. It's nice to see that you're taste in men hasn't changed over the years." the woman next to her grinned.

"Shut up Misato." The scientist groaned stifling a yawn with the back of her hand. She had only managed to get less than two hours of sleep in before the call had come through from the Commander, ordering her to report to the scene to the containment zone, as a breakthrough in the investigation had been reached. It seemed Misato had received the same orders, meeting her at a perimeter checkpoint with a squad of JSSDF soldiers assigned for their protection.

Using the power of the MAGI super computers, the NERV science wing had finally managed to calculate the exact spot that the energy signature had first originated. At the first available they had contacted the Section-2 office, which had sent a team of agents to lock down the position. However they were still in the dark as to what caused the anomaly in the first place and Ritsuko had been sent down to this _hole _to check it out.

Over the course of the night the JSSDF had consolidated their positions and created a nearly impenetrable wall of men and machines, so by the time the two women had arrived at 07:00 there was absolute containment. Traffic in and out of the district had been completely halted, much to the chagrin of the locals.

"Wow the military's really taking this seriously!" Misato quipped pointing out a pair of machine-gun wielding soldiers, standing watch over the streets from the rooftops. She waved to the nearest and received a cold stare in return. "Humph not very friendly are they?" The men assigned to guard them seemed to agree, frowns deepening as they pointedly ignored their charges.

"Seriously Misato shut up." Ritsuko held up her G.P.S. and checked her position against the coordinates provided by the MAGI. They were almost there; the position was just up ahead. '_About damn time. It's so damnably muggy out, I'm starting to chafe." _She adjusted the front of her shirt and wiped the sweat off of her forehead. She was glad she had left her lab coat back at NERV., wearing it in this heat would have been unbearable. She glanced over to her companion and noted with irritation that her companion didn't seem to be suffering at all.

The purple haired Major actually seemed to extrude an air of cool confidence that right now had the doctor wanting to punch her in face. Of course it was all an act, Ritsuko knew her friend must be suffering from Shinji's disappearance. There was no way the Misato wouldn't be devastated by the disappearance of her charge, it was common knowledge around NERV. that she had taken the Second and Third Children under her wings, adopting the role of surrogate mother. A role at odds with her official position as their superior officer, she had only been allowed to continue in this capacity because the Commander found nothing in it to damage his precious scenario. '_Damn the bastard, of course I'm in it as deep as he is, perhaps even more so.' _

She didn't know why she stuck around to tend to his needs, it certainly wasn't because the sex. Perhaps she was so ridiculously jealous of her mother's achievements and the only way she could deal with it was to relive her life. Or maybe she had put so much into this place she just couldn't risk leaving it all behind. Project E was her adopted child and like Misato she was fiercely protective of it. No, she couldn't leave, even after all the evil she'd seen and taken a hand in. It was all she had.

"Well this place looks…" Misato stated next to her, face scrunched up in disgust.

Ritsuko gave the run down hotel that sat in front of them a quick one over. "Disgusting, shoddy? Like home maybe?" She winced as Misato slugged her in the arm. "Anyways," she double checked her G.P.S. "it seems that this is our destination."

"Figures." Misato grumbled and turned to the Corporal in charge of their detachment. "Wait here until we return."

"Yes Ma'am." The older man saluted and passed the orders to the rest of the squad.

Leaving them outside the two women entered the lobby only to be stopped by a pair of Section-2 Agents.

"This is a restricted area." The taller of the two stated, putting his hand underneath his jacket. "Entry is restricted to NERV and JSSDF personnel.

Ritsuko pulled out her I.D. card and handed it to the Agent. He looked at it nodded and turned to Misato who did the same. Satisfied, the man stepped out of the way and motioned for them to enter. Leaving his partner by the door, the Agent led them through the lobby and led down the hallway to a hotel room with a pair of men standing guard outside it, before leaving to head back to his post.

Ritsuko turned to the nearest of the two spooks guarding the door. "Has anyone entered the room since it was secured?"

"No Ma'am, at least not since we first got here and checked it out, the science team has been waiting down the hallway for you arrive, would you like me to notify them?" the man asked.

"Yes please do." the doctor replied.

Misato followed her friend as she entered the room, noting with some curiosity the broken hinges on the door and the stink of cigarettes.

So distracted by these oddities, she didn't see Ritsuko stop suddenly in front of her until she ran right into her.

"Rits, what the hell?" she said rubbing her nose, "What was that for…" she stopped mid sentence as she moved past the stunned scientist. She immediately wished she hadn't and tried to suppress the rise of vomit in her gullet. "_This_ is the place that signal came from!" she asked turning away in disgust from the grisly spectacle.

Ritsuko stepped forward tentatively and tried to find some explanation for the scene before her. The reports from the Section-2 team had been vague, identifying a homicide at the determined location and Ritsuko had assumed that was in addition to something else. The something else that had caused the mystery signal, but as she searched the room she came to the conclusion that the homicide was all there was. No advanced electronics suite, no broadcasting dishes, no form of radioactive elements, just a dead woman and a whole lot of blood.

She forced herself to look at the corpse and was once again shocked by the bizarre state of the body. Strange symbols were seemingly cauterized randomly into her skin and a gigantic hole had been made in her chest. Approaching warily, hesitant to go anywhere near the fluid soaked sheets, Ritsuko slipped on rubber gloves and further inspected the body, prodding and poking different parts, looking for anything else out the ordinary that would explain the signal. Sighing in defeat she started to step away from the corpse, but something white and small grabbed her attention. Bending down to pick it up, she turned it over before slipping it into an evidence bag and placing it in her pocket. She then went to find Misato and found her leaning against a wall outside. She placed a comforting hand on her friends back.

"Are you going to be okay Misato?" she asked

The Major nodded her head. "Yeah I'll be fine. I was just thinking what kind of person could have done something like that?"

Leaving her, Ritsuko turned to the Agent she had talked to before. "Have you been able to identify the body yet?"

The Agent looked at the report in his hand. "Her name was Jenny Straights, an immigrant from New Britain, arrived in country four years ago on a work visa. Worked as a waitress in Kyoto for two years before moving to Tokyo 3. No recorded job held since. We also talked to the manager last night, who identified her from photo records as the occupant of this room. Apparently she worked as a prostitute and would bring johns back here for, erm, business." The man's face colored slightly below his dark sunglasses.

"Did he see if she brought anyone with her back last night?"

"No, he claims to have not seen anything, and there are no surveillance cameras on the premises either."

"Thank you." Ritsuko said and she turned back to Misato. "Well this was a waste of time. There's nothing here to explain the signal, still though I'll have the science team run a full sets of diagnostics around the area, look for residual energy readings or radiation."

"So what does it mean?"

"Well either MAGI were wrong about the location of the origin or someone moved the relevant equipment away before we could get here."

"Then what about the woman?" Misato asked.

Ritsuko shrugged "My guess is wrong place at the wrong time. Don't worry, I'm sure they'll catch whoever did this, idiots like that always leave something lying around." As she talked her hand moved unconsciously to her pocket, and she realized the truthfulness of her words. As soon as she got back to NERV she'd have a DNA sample swapped from it. Most likely it would end up belonging to the woman on the bed, but maybe it would be their murderer. Whether the individual was the one responsible for the emission or not, she didn't care. Maybe then some good would come out of this mess.

"Let's go Misato; we should report to the Commander what we found."

"You mean didn't find." The other woman spat angrily.

"Yeah, well we'll see."

…

"FUCK YOU FUYUTSUKI! I SWEAR TO THE GREAT FATHER IM GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!" The spawn screamed for what seemed like the millionth time. When it didn't receive an answer it slumped back against its restraints. It couldn't see anything; the room where it was restrained was pitch black, but it knew that the Professor could hear him. Damn that bastard! It didn't know how much time had passed since its incarceration in that black space. It could have been days, weeks, it didn't matter. Time had run together like hot candle wax, every point soft and yielding, impossible to get a grip on.

It still had trouble believing just how that son of a bitch had so royally screwed him. Grudgingly it had to admit it took some big balls what the old man had done. Ugh, that thought brought up something it had tried to forget only now to remember in full detail.

"Blah!"

…

"What the fuck are we doing here?" questioned.

The pair of them had been running ever since their run in with the soldiers on the rooftop. Kozo had insisted they run a series of random patterns to shake any pursuit, but all it did was confuse the spawn. Doubling back and running down random alleys they had zigzagged all across the city proper, finally ending with their arrival in front of a rundown strip club.

"Don't worry I wouldn't lead you to temptation. We're going down." He looked around the empty street before reaching down and prying up a manhole cover. Setting it aside with a clang, the older man hustled the demon inside before climbing down himself. Replacing the cover, the spawn was momentarily disoriented as all around was plunged into darkness. Then a blinding light, hovering mid-air as Fuyutsuki turned on an electric torch. Revealed was a sewer, with tunnels going in each direction far off into the distance. Thankfully they were spared the more traditional sewer environment, as Tokyo 3 was a bleeding edge city with all waste materials being handled through pressurized pipes. Leading the way once again, they moved off through a labyrinth of tunnels, just as byzantine as the streets above. However unlike before the spawn had a destination to expect as the Professor explained it to him.

"So you're saying that NERV has enough financial resources that 400 million something American dollars just goes unnoticed?" it asked incredulously.

"A drop in a very, very, very large ocean, one that would not be noticed among the tide. It would surprise you to know just how badly these fools seek their precious immortality. The whole world has invested almost the entire net capital of an entire generation in the Evangelion Project. For one the construction of on secret underground bunker, it is not that large of a leap of faith."

"True, but how did you keep it a secret? Building something like that would require outside contractors."

Kozo's smile flashed a certain emotion and for the first time the spawn could easily identify it. Predatory hunger. "Well let's just say our Lord can be a demanding one, what with the hours and all that. Quota's must be filled and whether they're for money, or maybe _souls_, his demands must be met." He halted and motioned the demon to stand beside him.

They had stopped at what appeared to be a standard pressure monitoring station, there was one every 20 meters or so. Fuyutsuki skimmed his hands along the side of the box, like a cat burglar doing his initial shakedown. Pausing for just a moment, he slipped his fingers underneath the face plate of the LCD screen and pulled it off, revealing a pulsating green light. Inside was revealed to be an electronic touch-screen keypad, to which Kozo quickly punched in a long sequence of numbers.

Once the typing was completed, he replaced the monitors cover and stepped away. Soon both parties could hear a grinding noise and an entire section of the wall was pulled inward, presenting a dimly lit corridor with a gentle downward slope.

"Pretty risky securing this place with only one keypad, you'd think with your budget you would be able to at least afford a lock." The spawn said sarcastically.

"An incorrect numerical entry results in the detonation of buried countermeasures." Kozo replied flatly.

"Countermeasures?"

"50 kiloton nuclear bomb."

"Ah."

They moved along the relatively short passageway onto what looked to be a gigantic freight elevator. The spawn was slightly shocked to see that the shaft went up as well, disappearing in a haze of blackness high up above. He masked his surprise however and Fuyutsuki pressed a button and then dropped down suddenly and with increasing speed. Being an open sided grate elevator, the spawn could see the different rock striations as they moved downward. It knew it was part of its imagination, but it could almost feel the air around it growing hotter the further they moved downward.

The elevator glided to a stop, though perhaps glide was the wrong word. As the spawn got to its feet it was irritated to see the old man standing tall and strong, not even wavering. Setting forward without a word as the doors opened, the spawn was once again relegated to following his boot trails. This time however the passage they traveled was much wider than a meager corridor. About ten meters by ten meters, it was a truly titanic feat of construction. Along both sides metal support struts stood interconnected with ceiling trusses. The floor was poured concrete, inlaid with rails of some kind, though as to their purpose the spawn didn't have a clue.

"This must have taken a long time to create…wait we're underground right?"

The annoyed look in Kozo's face gave him his answer.

"Well how the fuck did we pass through the Geo-Front? I mean the ground beneath the city is just one hollow bowl, how did we…"

"We burrowed down through one of the tertiary EVA launch chutes, covered up the construction as repairs. To answer your question, it's amazing how quickly slave labor can make the work go."

At end of the corridor lay a pair gigantic gleaming silver blast doors. Kozo approached the doors and traveled to the right and entered another series of numbers into an identical keypad. This time however he paused and swiped his finger across a data slate, leaving tiny trail of red behind.

"There are access points to this facility from all over the surface, as well as the surroundings foothills." Kozo explained as the massive portals grinded into life. Rolling back into the walls with a subtle whooshing noise the twin layered doors parted to reveal a scene that defied explanation.

The spawn turned in confusion to its host, eyes full of questions and Fuyutsuki preempted all of them.

Drawing his gun the old man pointed it one handed at the demon. "In time all may be revealed to you, but for now I am going to have to leave it all unanswered. I cannot at this time afford to have you running around loose cannon, endangering all the plans and machinations we've put into effect."

"What the hell are you doing?" the demon's eyes slanted in suspicion and it moved a step closer to the other man.

Kozo responded with a hail of bullets that hit the spawn in the arms and chest. The beast snarled and made to leap the distance between the two, but was stopped in his tracks by the sudden firing of every nerve in its body as they registered pain.

Kozo had dropped his pants.

Though it wasn't the sudden appearance of the man's black briefs that threw the spawn into violent convulsions but rather the pattern emblazoned on the face.

"I suppose you recognize the form of the Elder Sigil when you see it," The old man said pulled his drawers back up and pulling a dust covered book from a concealed jacket pocket. "I'm sorry for keeping it in such a strange place, but when is the Vice Commander of NERV ordered to strip?" Opening the book he turned to a bookmarked page. "I'm really sorry about all this. We do after all really want the same thing, it's just your ways are not my ways and in this case my ways hold precedence. This will probably hurt, but I need to be unconscious when they move you."

He began to read from the tome, the incantation sharp and violent without the low silky gurgle of the Great Lords prayers. As it continued the spawn began to feel its grasp on its mental faculties begin to slip. Its eyesight was the first to go, slipping away into a haze of darkness. It felt as though the very life was being seeped out of its body, deposited in some other far-away place.

Kozo was right, there was pain.

…

"Bastard." The spawn spat under its breath. It had woken up here in the darkness and been fuming ever since.

The door clanked open and the spawn shielded its eyes at the blinding light that pierced the black. Taking in the figure outlined in the blaze the demon cursed once again.

"I am sorry it took me so long to get here. I had to sit in for the Commander while he attended a committee meeting." The Professor apologized before reaching across and flicking the light switch on. Soon the room was bathed in a soft phosphorescent glow and the spawn could for the first time perceive its surroundings.

Shackled to a plain metal gurney by its neck, arms and legs by heavy steel chains, the demon found that it couldn't move. It strained against its bindings again, but came up with the same results, the soft red glow emanating from the chains seeming to mock it. There were arcane powers at work here and from the intricate set up of this room it was obvious the old man had planned this from the beginning, or he did this kind of thing often. The spawn didn't know which possibility made it angrier.

"You know I'm going to kill you Fuyutsuki, right? What you've done, there's no coming back from. You will die." It growled irritate ably at the smug smile the professor shot back at it.

"Normally I would take that threat very seriously, but unfortunately you won't be around much longer to carry it out." He reached down and picked up a loaded syringe from the cloth covered tray laden table next to the gurney.

The demon warily eyed the glistening needles tip. "Why go through all the trouble to bring me to this plane if you're just going to send me back?"

"I have no intention of doing any such thing." Kozo lowered the needle and stuck it directly into its carotid artery. "However I also have no intension letting your continued idiocy bring into direct ruination the culmination of my plans. After all you yourself are not required at the end, only the unique spectral qualities extruded by your physical existence in this world."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" it demanded, already feeling the sedative affect of whatever drug the Vice Commander had given him.

"Merely that I am going to return the Third Child's body to his control and wipe the memories of the last forty-eight hours from his mind."

The demons increasingly had to concentrate to keep its eyes open and its mouth felt sluggish as it struggled to find the words to respond. "Wha…what's going to happ-en to me?"

"I don't know."

"Fuckin'…great." The demon whispered its eyes finally drooping shut. With a final sigh its head lolled over and a brutal bout of grating snoring ensued.

The wizened old man merely shook his head and reached for his earplugs.

…

Misato entered the elevator, waited for the doors to close and collapsed against the paneling. She had been keeping it in all day and had only just made it to her apartment before she finally gave in and broke down. This whole thing had been a waking nightmare for the Major and she didn't know how much more she could take.

However she refrained from crying, knowing full well the state of electronic surveillance in the lift and satisfied her feelings instead by hanging her head and silently sobbing.

When the doors finally opened she managed to fight on, pulling herself up and walking quickly down the hallway until she reached her apartment door at the end of the hall. Pushing herself past the piled up trash bags and used takeout boxes, she managed to make it inside the door and close it behind her.

Making her way to the kitchen she side stepped a squawking and wildly gesturing Pen-pen and opened the fridge, removing a cold can of beer. Pulling the tab she took a swig, leaned up with her back against the counter and let her eyes wander around the room.

She had (with some difficulty) convinced Asuka to go to school this morning, saying that it would help keep her mind off the current situation and provide her with some sort of distraction. However now, alone in the apartment, she began to feel the effects of the past forty eight hours. Shinji's disappearance, the horrible murder at the motel and the general lack of sleep began to take its toll on her. Making her wish that she had had Asuka stay home instead, so that when she came home she could have someone to talk to, to be with and to hold.

She bowed her head and finally allowed the battle that had been raging for what seemed like the last week come to an end. Big, fat, heavy tears poured from the corners of her eyes and splashed into the still open can of beer in her hand.

'It's all my fault!' she mentally screamed. 'If I had actually paid attention to him, instead of teasing and ignoring his pleas maybe he wouldn't of…" she let the thought hang to horrified to consider the possibility.

While she had been at work she had gotten a call from Section-2 Agent Oritneto, their analysts had finished analyzing the security footage from the apartment. She remembered waiting for the results, hoping with all her heart that the tapes proved to be doctored.

They weren't.

'Which meant…'

Shinji had jumped. She remembered feeling felt her heart sink as the man on the other end of the line offered up the culmination of their department's findings. According to their investigation, the subject had become distressed at something, torn his room apart in anger and then proceeded to jump out the bedroom window. They had also concluded that taking into account the distance from the point of egress and the lack of stopping forces between the window and the ground, it would have been impossible to survive such a fall. All this would not explain the lack of body however, which was still under investigation, but it was surmised that either it had been picked up John Doe and misidentified or perhaps washed away in the subsequent flooding. Of course none of this had reached the Major. She had however politely thanked him for his help and had turned back to resume her duties, but inside she was a quivering wreck.

'I failed as his guardian; he's dead because I failed. Shinji… I'm sorry." She continued to cry, interrupted only when she felt a tugging on the hem of her dress and found a very distressed looking penguin.

She wiped away her tears and bent to address her feathery roommate. "What is it Pen-pen? Do you want your din-din?" she tried to smile but found it increasingly hard.

However the bird shook his beak and continued to gesture in the general direction of the living room.

"The living room? Pen-pen is something wrong?" she asked to which the bird responded with a flurry of nods and waddled off in the direction of the living room.

Misato followed, now curious as to what had gotten the penguin so worked up. Stopping in front of the T.V. she raised her hands in question.

"Well what is it?" she said in exasperation. However Pen-pen had not stopped in the room but instead had made his way over to the sliding glass doors that separated the den from the patio and jumped up and down excitedly.

She looked out onto the open air porch and shrugged. Everything looked the same to her. Rusty railing, potted plants, lawn chairs, a pile of empty beer cans, naked Shinji, suntan loti…

"Wh-hat?" she shouted in surprise and threw open the sliding glass doors. Running she ran over to the lawn chair and crouched down next to the still figure draped over it. Uncaring of his state of shame she pressed her fingers into his neck and blew a relieved sigh when she found a steady pulse, but in some state of unconsciousness .

Deciding it might do more harm than good to try to wake him at this point; she rushed back inside the apartment and snatched her phone off the kitchen counter where she had set it. Dialing in a mad rush she quickly keyed in the number for NERV's medical branch and waited for someone to pick up.

"Come on, come on." She growled as the ringing continued for what seemed like a ridiculous amount of time.

Finally someone on the other end picked up and she explained the situation before asking for a medical team to come and pick him up. The nurse then informed her that they would be there soon as possible and asked a series of quick questions on the Third Childs state. Returning to his side Misato tried her best to relay accurate information

Yes he was breathing. No, he was unconscious. No, no signs of any physical injury of any kind. No, he didn't appear feverish or sick in anyway. His pulse was strong. Yes, she'll stay here with him.

Hanging up, Misato cradled the boy's head in her arms, tears of happiness replacing those of sorrow. It didn't really matter that he was unconscious; she knew he'd be all right. Deep down in her heart she rejoiced at his presence, her adopted son had returned from away and she'd never let him go.

It was only after experiencing the chilling true darkness of the world in that little motel room that she had come to that decision. It was a hard but she could no longer afford to back out of it. Her children they were, not her wards or her friends but her children and no one else's. They were all she had in this world that had any value and that made them more precious than any kind of relief brought on by denial of that fact. That made it worth any sacrifice demanded of her in protection of their innocence. She now had true purpose in her life rather than the cold mechanisms of revenge and it felt good.

Suddenly smiling she brought the boy's face close to her own, oblivious to the tears still raining down on him.

"It's alright Shinji," she cooed, wiping away her tears off his face. "Misato's here and she'll never leave you. Welcome home."

…

The NERV's commanders office had always been something of a talking point for the employees of the esteemed organization. Most of course had never been, that _privilege_ being reserved for the senior staff and department heads, a fact that the rest didn't really have too much trouble accepting.

It was joked around the proverbial water coolers that Gendo Ikari's lack of decorating sense was only beaten out by his lack of fashion sense. Black on black, with either not much was left to the imagination. Of course none of them would have ever said as much to his face, much less willingly entered his office.

Ritsuko didn't pay the menacing tones of the room any mind, much more concerned with how to explain what she had discovered, or rather didn't, in her trip down to that slum hole this morning. The man sitting behind the desk in front of her likely wouldn't care one way or the other, just as long as it didn't affect his precious scenario. Or at least in any way that would affect the end result of that plan.

"Did you find the origin of the erroneous signal?" Gendo's monotone pitched question interrupted her search for a reasonable explanation, so she gave the best one that she had.

"No, or not anything that would point to a definitive cause. My initial evaluation of the signals derivation point gave me no more indication as to what caused it than the original data supplied by MAGI. Now the science teams report did list trace amounts of ozone in the air, the same components released upon the occurrence of huge amounts of electrical discharge, typically associated with lighting strikes. You see, it's caused when the air's molecules are excited to such a degree that they become ionized and…"

"So are you certain that it was not the tenth Angel?" the seated figure interrupted from behind interlaced glove encased fingers.

The blonde doctor crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight to the other foot.

"Yes we are sure of that. While the energy released was of unknown origin and of a very great magnitude, it was not similar in any way to the wave form that we've detected from the previous Angels. You see the Angels emit a short wave frequency of 5000giga-hertz per second while…"

"Dr. I do not require the specifics, only if these events will affect our operations here." Ritsuko gritted her teeth at the repeated interruptions but vowed to not let the man get to her.

"My conclusions, as I was about to explain, are as follows; on site of the signal source point a ritualistic murder occurred, then some time after in a bizarre twist of fate a huge electrical surge, perhaps caused by an errant lighting strike or city wide short circuit, flooded the cities power grid at the exact same location, somehow accumulating enough power to show up on the MAGI's monitoring sensors and occur as the anomaly noticed in the Command Center." She finished and for a few tense seconds a heavy silence pervaded the air before Gendo's voice broke in.

"What about the casualties the JSSDF reported."

Ritsuko shrugged "It's a bad neighborhood."

"Very well, I suggest you redefine the search parameters for the MAGI sensor net so that such an event does not bother us again. As for the evidence collected on the murder, turn it over to the Tokyo-3 police. We have too much to worry about without taking on the responsibilities of the justice system as well."

Dr. Akagi nodded her consent and turned to leave but Gendo's voice caused her to look over her shoulder.

"I am still waiting on the First Child's synchronization results Doctor, Rei is waiting in the sync room. I suggest you complete the test and submit it to me as soon as possible, I do not want another failure from you." His voice was still impassive as ever but Ritsuko could almost see the dangerous intent written across the reflective surface of his glasses.

'Damn him.' She thought as she continued walking, ignoring his final remark as if he had never spoken. 'It'll just have to wait.' She felt the plastic baggie through the thin material her lab coat pocket to comfort herself then walked out of the darkened space of the office and into the harsh white light of the hallway beyond.

…

Rei Ayanami sat in the synchronization chamber, awaiting the arrival of the Dr. Akagi. It was not something she looked forward to in all honesty. The doctor had never made any effort to keep secret her dislike for Rei, often treating their interactions with open disdain. Of course Rei would never bother telling anyone about it, it did not matter whether she was like or not, only that she was allowed to continue to pilot EVA until such time that Commander Ikari's final solution could be enacted. That was also something she was not looking forward too, though for totally different reasons than her current situation. While she wanted to avoid unnecessary interactions with Dr. Akagi because of its unpleasant nature, she found that the idea of knowing the means to her end strangely comforting. However that would mean leaving behind the one person whom she felt any kind of connection with on a personal level in this life and that she wished did not have to happen. Pilot Ikari, unlike his father, made her feel wanted as a person, not as a means to an end. She felt she would miss that connection, that feeling of comfort whenever she was around the boy. When he smiled at her, that warm sensation in her stomach which reminded of something buried deep within the shadowed sections of memory. When the news of his disappearance had finally reached her ears, she had experienced something completely original, a feeling of dread. It was a fear unlike any she had experienced before, none like the brief flashes of self-concern that she allowed herself when she fought in EVA or the weak sense of longing for companionship that occurred when Commander Ikari left on business.

Why she felt this way about him and not his father, she couldn't reason out. It was almost as if they had a deeper connection, deeper than that what would normally come out of their distant friendship as EVA pilots. It would almost be considered love, from what she had read on the subject, but it was not like the romantic entanglements depicted in the literary works she had selected. Those books, the woman at the bookstore had giggled when she had bought them, saying something about her being a little young to really enjoy them. Rei hadn't understood that, she had originally selected the books based on their back cover synopsis and their value on enlightening the rather more obscure aspects of the emotion described as love, not the physical act of it.

It was a mystery and in a sense ironic. She who would be the catalyst of mankind's next step in physical and spiritual existence still found herself unable to grasp the basest aspects of that existence. It was sublimely frustrating.

However she would have to find time reflect on this later, as the door to the synchronization chambers whisked open to reveal a very irritated looking Dr. Akagi. The blond woman briskly made her way over to the waiting pilot, picking up a clipboard on the way.

"Rei, the Commander has asked that I run a series of diagnostic tests. You know the routine; let's get this over with as quickly as possible." Ritsuko sighed, not looking at Rei but instead the clipboard she was holding.

"Hai." Rei conceded meekly, walking towards the door that led to the entry gantry. Dimly she heard a phone ringing back at the monitoring station and the Doctors snappy answer, which soon turned to excited chatter.

Expecting the news of an incoming Angel, she stopped in her tracks and made her way back.

"I understand, yes I'll be there right away. No I'll personally do the examination, tell Dr. Mitashurgi to hold on. Okay, thanks." Ritsuko slammed the headset back on the cradle and walked quickly out of the room.

Rei held up her hand and then reconsidered, following the blonde woman instead.

"Dr. Akagi, what is the problem?" she asked catching up to the retreating scientist. Ritsuko looked down and her look of surprise told Rei that she had forgotten about her presence completely.

"Oh Rei, I'm sorry but something came up your presence is no longer required, we'll complete the sync test tomorrow." She paused then added "The Third Child has been found and have to supervise his examination. Excuse me."

Rei slowed to a stop. The Third Child had been found? A sudden feeling of something she'd come to recognize as relief well through the previously sore parts of her chest, relieving the ache and giving her a profound sense of happiness.

Quickly her mind charted out a plan of action, Ritsuko had said she would be administrating Pilot Ikari an examination which would mean he would be in the NERV medical wing, which would mean…

With a start she sprinted forward, catching up the lab coated figure in the distance. She would sit in the waiting room until he was released, then she would visit him. It would feel nice and she thought he might like that. That was enough.

…

A/N Whew that was fun. Let me say right now (and save you the trouble of pointing it out later) yes I know this chapter was boring and the more _emotional_ sections were kinda awkward. I'm finding that emotional clarity in my writing is not one of my strong points. Eh, more room for improvement then I guess. Sorry for the long time to update (though I was waiting on the next chapter of _Shinji and Warhammer 40k_ for what seemed like FOREVER! But it was worth it! Keep up the great work Charles!) But I've started writing another story and it's taking up more of my writing time.

Anyways to respond to some comments:

Atomic Squirrel – I understand where you're coming from on the shorter chapters. Actually it was because of your review that I enacted that practice with my other fic as I will now be doing here. In addition you're also right on about the lock, lazy writing. However, come on its Shinji! He's like the most boring, dull, monotonous individual on the entire planet! I could defintely see him as obsessively working on something well until the wee hours just because it offers something out the ordinary and who knows? Maybe he was already feeling the effects of the demonic presence, serving to dull the mind and spur his fingers on to new levels of lock tumbling! Or not. Anyways, thank you for your review and your praise, appreciated as always.

TheLordofthePages1692 – You are too kind. Thank you for your review, I hope the story retains your interest.

Oh and for all of you who were wondering, (I know you all are) yes those briefs exist. They come from the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society's and come in both men's and women's styles! I myself wear my pair to bed every night! It always pays to be extra careful when it comes to the creeping madness of the eldritch night.

Doubly so when it pertains to your naught bits!

Peace!


	4. The Descent

Shinji Ikari awoke to find himself in utter darkness.

Groping blindly at the ground around him, he managed to raise himself into a half sitting position and swept his head from side to side. His initial perceptions had been correct; he could not see anything for lack of light. Any light.

Picking up his hand he traced the numb digits along the contours of his face, somewhat comforted at the continued existence of his corporeal state. Letting his hand fall back to the ground beneath he felt around him, looking for some indication of where he had fallen. It was very cold and an unnatural silence seemed to seed the air with unease; something which he was quickly picking up. However his butt was surprisingly warm and he brushed his hand along below, looking for the answer.

The area around him was soaked with something warm, sticky and yielding, as he pressed his hand into the unknown material he was surprised when the floor gave and his fingers sunk deeply into a wax like substance. Thoroughly startled he pulled away, the substance giving away with a moist sucking sound accompanied by the sickly sweet smell of rotten meat.

Panicking now, he attempted to raise himself to a standing position, feeling the pull of the ground as it grudgingly gave up its warm embrace. At last he managed to gain a tenuous footing, holding his arms out to steady himself as he attempted to traverse the wobbling, gelatinous terrain below.

Without warning his next step met no resistance and he backpedaled desperately in a vain attempt to regain his balance. The feel of his remaining grounded foot slipping off the edge of the rounded precipice let him know of his impending trip and he threw his arms protectively around his head, letting out a high pitched scream as he plummeted into the unknown depths.

His plummeting came to an abrupt end as he landed on his feet some twenty feet below. Sprawling on his stomach in pain, he began to sink, sliding between a pair of the slick, waxy tubes he had been perched on before. He clawed around vainly, trying to find purchase between the two sides of the chasm he was currently descending, but the slick liquid coated sides denied him any purchase and he slid down between the slimy walls feet first. With a last gasp his head dissapeared as well and he found himself surrounded on all sides by the mystery material, compressing around his head, sliding over his clothes, coating it with a film of the same oily liquid and filling his nose with the same revolting stench, now ten times more potent. He held back the urge to vomit and instead concentrated on getting out.

Thrashing wildly with horror fueled adrenaline he attempted to extricate himself from his tainted prison, shredding the material of the walls with his frenzied strikes. This only succeed in releasing more foul smelling and soon he relented, tears streaming down his face as he contemplated his sure to be demise.

"HELP!" he cried out, uncaring of the teary high pitched sound his voice had become "HELP ME MISATO! PLEASE HELP, ASUKA, REI, SOMEONE!" his voice dropped down to a sniveling whisper. "Father, please?"

But only silence greeted his desperate pleas, mocking him with its stony indifference and Shinji shivered as it finally hit him that he was completely alone and the total hopelessness of his current situation finally managed to smother him. Now he cried, great sobbing movements that wracked his body with their intensity. Emotions assaulted him in a mighty torrent, fear, horror, sadness, anger at his inability to help himself and his apparent abandonment. He couldn't remember a time he was this afraid, not even when fighting in EVA where death was just a few heartbeats away. At least then he had had the support of the people that depended on them, now he had nothing but his own weaknesses. This smothering lingering death was something he'd rather not have to face.

How long he lay there sobbing, he couldn't or wouldn't ever say, but when it finally came he'd already grown used to the smell.

The first indication of the other was a slight vibration in the slick floors of his tomb, as if something was burrowing up from the ground. He held his breath, silencing his sobs as his terror returned two-fold. Then he heard it clearly. A slimy wriggling sound of something making its way slowly through the folds of material; making its way ever closer to the place of his entrapment.

His breath returned and despite his best efforts to remain silent, came in panicked rasps increasing proportionally to the approach of the unknown sound. His imagination ran rampant, creating an unknown crawling horror that were undoubtedly coming to feast on his still breathing corspe. Bogeymen from a forgotten childhood, the terror under the bed coming to claim his being for some malign purpose. A reappearance of some abyssal terror from the depths of mankind's collective unconscious come to claim its ancient sacrificial dues.

It was close now; he could feel the greasy sides of his prison wiggling gently at its imminent approach. He struggled now with renewed vigor, once again making an effort to escape. Once again he was defeated by the smothering walls weight and he collapsed in exhaustion, drained from his repeated exertions and the dreadful realization that there was no escape. It was only when he lay panting that he realized that the feeling of movement had subsided and the sticky sound of approach had disappeared. Hoping against hope, he turned in the inky blackness, trying to ascertain his escape from doom. Perhaps it had passed him by or…

The sudden of explosion of movement below him caught him completely unawares, as the ribbed material that made up the floor exploded outward in a shower of ichor and pus. Quickly following them came two gripping scaly arms of immeasurable strength that instantly wrapped around his torso in an enslaving embrace. Shinji struggled vainly in their crushing grip, but found he could not escape. Giving up his body went completely limp and he was aware of something warm running down his leg, the fact that this still embarrassed him strangely comforting.

'So this is how I die, smothered in darkness by some unnamed horror and I pissed my pants.' A strangely detached part of his mind wondered. 'At least I won't be able to see when it happens.' He shut his eyes anyways and waited for the inevitable pain that would lead him to the waiting abyss beyond.

However instead of the expected pain came a feeling of immense power building up below him as his unknown assailant began to push upwards, his body parting the slimy ceiling as he was pushed through, up and up until once again he was greeted by the cold air of the outside on his face. The beast didn't stop there however, shifting Shinji so he hung over he assumed was a shoulder; it began to climb up the slippery sides of the unknown material. Then as suddenly as his escape from the earth had begun it ended and he was dropped unceremoniously, once again on top of the waxy ground where he had started.

He whirled around into a half sitting position, searching the dark for any sign of his attacker, but once again there was only black.

"Hello?" he asked tentatively, now confused more than scared at these unexpected developments. "Is anyone out there?"

After a tense moment of silence a deep throaty chuckle emanated out of the shadows,

"Yes, I'm here."

Shinji took a double take, trying to decide whether he was more surprised that the thing had answered, or that it answered in clearly understandable, if strangely accented, Japanese. Never the less he pressed onward.

"Um, thanks for getting me out of there, I...Uh couldn't have done it by myself." He waited for the reply which wasn't long in coming.

"Oh it wouldn't do for me to let you die in there, I don't think this place would take that very well."

"This place?" Shinji whispered to himself, and then turned back to the blank space where the voice had emanated from. "Excuse me sir, do you know where exactly this place is?"

"Oh I think you'd know that much better than me." Shinji jumped, the words had come from right behind him and he struggled to face the source again. "It is after all because of you that this place exists as it is."

"Because of me?" Shinji asked, baffled by this turn of events.

"Yeah that's what I said and let me take this moment to say that you are one fucked up guy, Mr. Ikari." The unknown speaker was speaking once again from behind him.

"Wait, how do you know my name?" he stammered, moving so he was facing the correct direction once again.

The voice waited a second before responding and Shinji got the distinct feeling that it was considering something. "Oh Shinji I know everything about you, from what your favorite composer is to how you feel about your father to what you do in your room every Tuesday night when you think no one is looking." It chuckled again and though he knew nobody could see Shinji turned a bright shade of pink.

However he quickly recovered himself "What are we doing here? Why are we trapped in this place?"

"I don't know why you're here, as for me however, I'm here courtesy of a two faced rat bastard who wouldn't know tact if it came up and bit his fucking nuts off! The next time I see that low down yellow bellied cock sucking…" the unknown speaker's voice had taken on a hateful edge and Shinji warily backed away from the fuming.

After a while the curses and threats died away and the unnatural silence returned to the shadow realm. Finally Shinji broke the uneasy silence with the golden question.

"Do you know how I can get out of here?" he asked, feeling for the first time since he had arrived in this strange place a glimmer of hope.

"No, but I don't think you'll have to worry about that. After all how many times do you see the warden imprisoned in his own jail? He may visit but he's never there to stay."

Shinji reached up and scratched his invisible scalp, utterly confused at the stranger's words. "What's that supposed to mean?"

An exasperated sigh was the twilight framed things response. "You really aren't a very sharp person are you? Of course it can't come as a surprise what with your head being full of all this."

Shinji was starting to get frustrated with the strangers evasive answers. "Do you or do you not know how I can get out of this damn place and back into the light?!"

Mocking laughter flowed once again from that unknown mouth. "You want light? That's all you had to say, though I don't think you'll like it once you take a taste. Some things are better left in the abyss." That last part was said from the distance as if the speaker was moving farther away from him.

"Wait! Where are you going!?" Shinji cried after the retreating mystery voice, not wanting to be left all alone again.

"I don't want to be here when the fireworks go off, hurts my eyes." The voice yelled now a good ways off in the distance.

Before Shinji could call out his protestations the lights came on in a big way. Where before there was only pitch dark, now there was blinding white light, seemingly emanating from the very air itself and his eyes burned red from the sudden change. After a few minutes his eyes adjusted and he stared off into the infinite distance that had revealed itself.

A seemingly glass white plain ran as far as the eye could see in all directions and for the first time Shinji retook stock in the notion that he was still alive. This could after all be no place on Earth; it just wasn't possible for this amount of space to be contained within a room of any size. Even the Geo-front, until now the largest man-made construction he had ever borne witness too, paled in comparison to the grand sweeping vista revealed to him.

Reluctantly tearing his eyes away from the impossible he glanced down and for the first time disgustedly took in the strange terrain he was occupying, though seeing it in the light left it still a mystery as to its origins and designs. Red and brownish-yellow tubes, each bigger round than his entire body formed a gigantic mound of slimy, stinking rope. Leaking out from the bottom of the pile was a dark red liquid; the same that he now noticed was dripping in big droplets from yet unseen ceiling.

With a sense of quickly mounting horror his eyes panned slowly upward, trailing past the dangling ropes that rose up into the distance and lighting on the titanic figure found hanging there.

It was Unit-01 or what was left of it. The Evangelion swung by its arms, hands bound to the ceiling by rusty chains. It had been eviscerated, the ragged remains of its torso armor torn asunder by some mighty and unknown force. Rivulets of coagulated blood dripped lazily from the gnawed portions of frayed organs, staining red the pile of intestines that formed the rotting gut-pile below. Hanging off the violated EVA's chest and arm armor, swung limp forms, hung with ropes constricting around their necks, blue tongues hanging out on some, others faces contorted in their final moments of pain and suffering. He spied a kaleidoscope of color among the rotten fruit, mops of red, purple and blue.

Shinji fell to his knees and vomited, emptying out his stomach's contents all over the greasy skin he was standing on. He shut his eyes, realizing only now the truth of the mysterious visitor's words. Some things were better left unseen.

He shivered, a chill of malignant nature running down from his spine, from his neck to his pelvis. Now he understood, it dawned on him like the inevitable sunset from day to day. Something deep within him snapped and he knew just what it was to taste madness.

He tried to suppress a giggle, the profane nature of laughter in this unholy environ rather evident, but he failed miserably, an unnatural fit of Dionysusic rapture overcoming the remaining boundaries of what was left of his tattered psyche.

The soft laughter soon escalated to a boisterous torrent. He cackled now, mixing with the screams of fear and confusion that this evil place was imposing, a long racking and rasping sound of most unpleasant nature to behold.

"This is _it_!" he screamed, throwing his head back and his hands wildly to the sides. The white plain shifted and rolled like waves crashing out at sea. Colors of every hue and shade rose from the depths, painting the once pristine surface in a nightmare cacophony of clashing waves. Great cracks formed on the on ground and huge pistons of red steam issued forth, the once solid white floor pouring into the ground like mercury through a cracked thermometer.

The temperature of the room increased dramatically, going from chilly to sweaty in a matter of seconds. A billowing carpet of fog issued from the dismal rifts, like the now liquid floor was meeting with some fiery cauldron at the bottom.

Soon the white plain itself was shrinking, coming in like sinking tide until all that was left was that which was directly under the stricken Evangelion and that too Shinji could see was soon to be slipping. Already coils of thick knotted digestive organs were sliding greasily off into the newly created bottomless black gulf. The cracks themselves had dissapeared replaced by open space as if the white had lost a great battle of attrition and all that remained were the victorious forces of blackness.

The piece of viscera he was sitting on began to slip, but Shinji paid it no mind, as he currently had none to give. Instead his insane laughter carried on, even when the final glimpse of white was drained away and he felt himself dropping into the cyclopean void below, weightless and spinning slowly in the endless freefall.

"I get it!" he sniggered, curling up into a ball as the suspended Evangelion and all his butchered friends receded into the mire of fading light. So did some part of him and deep within the still rational part of Shinji Ikari's mind, the part still reeling in horror at the whole impossible nature of his current situation, knew it would never return.

…

The clock in the waiting room changed tentatively, almost embarrassed at its audience's singular attention.

Misato sighed as another minute ticked by with no new developments, the doors to the Emergency room stayed closed. It had been like that since they had arrived over three hours ago, the medical team that had brought Shinji from the apartment had whisked him away through the red double doors at the end of the hall. When Misato had attempted to follow, they had barred the way, saying that her presence would only hinder the doctor's ministrations. She had persisted stubbornly, at least until one of the annoyed nurses had explained to her that making such a hindrance could have a negative effect on the patient. Hearing that she had finally come to her senses; resigning herself to instead pacing back and forth impatiently in one of the NERV medical ward's waiting rooms.

"I am sure Pilot Ikari is well Major Katsuragi." The rooms only other occupant spoke up for the first time since she had calmly entered the room and taken a seat three hours prior. Rei sat perfectly straight on one of the padded benches that lined the seating area. Her hands were folded delicately in her lap, her queer red eyes slightly closed, daintily drawn mouth pursed just slightly; she looked the utter picture of serene tranquility. And right now Misato couldn't stand it.

The older woman huffed her discontent, petulantly crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. "I know that! It's just you'd think they'd key me, his lawful guardian on his condition, instead of leaving me waiting out here like some scrabby old beggar!" she finished with a pout.

"I am sure that whenever the doctors finish with their examinations you will be duly notified." Rei responded just as calmly as she had before.

Misato growled and considered banging her head against the wall until she passed out.

'At least then I wouldn't have to watch that damn clock.' She inwardly moaned as the seconds ticked by like molasses, mocking her with every notch. The sudden sound of a door banging open caught her unawares and she whipped her head around, searching for the source of the disturbance. However she quickly realized it had been the wrong set that had open and instead of one of the facilities doctors had disgorged her missing ward.

Asuka was still dressed in her school clothes, evidence that she had received Misato's rushed voicemail. Her face was flushed and she was panting; apparently she had run all the way from school.

"Misato where's Shi…" she stopped as she spotted the First Child and frowned. "What's the doll doing here?"

"I am here waiting for Pilot Ikari to be released." Rei flatly stated.

Asuka's screwed up her face in distaste, looked as if she was going to say something back but bit back the obvious insult. "Well whatever," she turned to Misato "So what's wrong with the baka anyways?"

Misato shook her head "I don't know, when I found him he was passed out, but other than that I have no idea. The doctors are supposed to inform me as soon as their done with their preliminary examination." She said, moving to stand beside Asuka and placed her hand compassionately on the younger woman's shoulder. "But I'm sure Shinji's fine."

The redhead bristled at her touch and quickly moved away. "Of course the baka's fine! He probably just ran away again and forgot to eat anything. Stupid idiot! It was probably just plan to get attention, what with the lack of Angel's. He's always been a stupid drama queen."

Misato wanted to tell her that this wasn't the case, that apparently Shinji had tried to commit suicide and somehow failed, but she couldn't bring herself to. Partly because she stand the thought of another person knowing of her mortification, her failure in parenting that had led him to such desperate actions and partly because she didn't want to trouble embarrass Shinji in front of his teammates.

"I don't think Pilot Ikari would do something as foolish as that Second Child." Rei's monotone voice cut her off before Misato could respond.

Asuka glared at the seated blue haired girl again. "Yeah I'm sure you would know, doll's are not renowned for their sense of empathic reasoning." She spat sarcastically.

The seated teen didn't respond, instead staring once again off into space.

Misato watched as Asuka humphed and copied her earlier pose, leaning up against the waiting room wall, arms crossed in assumed disinterest. Misato sighed and resumed her earlier pacing, noticing the room was noticeably a few degrees colder than had previously been.

Thankfully they didn't have long to wait as the correct set of doors opened to admit a very tired and frazzled looking Ritsuko Akagi. Apparently she had been the one who had treated Shinji. The doctor took a moment to remove the surgical mask she had been wearing, her eyes searching around the room. Seeing Misato she motioned for the Major to approach, propping one of the doors open as she waited for her to follow.

"Misato can I talk to you for a moment." She asked, and then seeing Asuka getting prepared to come too she quickly added "Alone."

The redhead pouted and returned to her previous position. Misato sighed, she was sure she was going to get an earful about that later, but obediently she followed Ritsuko through the double doors and into the white washed hallway beyond. Ritsuko ushered into an empty hospital room and closed the door behind them.

She waited impatiently as Ritsuko pulled out a clipboard she had been hiding somewhere in the confines of her lab coat and quickly scanned several pages, pausing on one page, her face taking on a concerned air as she chewed her lower lip.

Misato stood for as long as seemed proper, before clearing her throat in an effort to bring the doctor back to the present. Ritsuko looked up and cocked her head to the side as if considering something. Misato had had enough waiting.

"What is it Rits? Is he all right? I assume that's why you brought me here." She asked impatiently.

Ritsuko frustrated her further, not responding instantly, but instead taking off her glasses and cleaning them on her collar. That something was bothering her was becoming increasingly apparent.

"He's okay Misato, at least physically." She slipped her glasses back on and sighed. "Apparently he's in some kind of unresponsive catatonic sleep state. The good news is there is brain activity all along his cerebral cortex, so the chance for recovery is significantly higher than if he was in a traditional coma."

Misato heaved a sigh of relief. So he wasn't going to end up as a vegetable, which was good news. She didn't know if she could handle that. Didn't know if she was strong enough…

"So why is he like this? Is it from the fall?"

"I'm not sure, but amazingly there seems to be no physical damage. This is amazing to be honest and makes me think that perhaps there's some other explanation to his disappearance. However when I was examining him I did notice some other anomalies, which is why I needed to talk to you."

Misato squared herself up and looked at her questionably "Anomalies?"

Ritsuko nodded and rested her clipboard on a nearby counter. "Misato have you noticed any changes in Shinji's lifestyle lately? Has he changed the people he's been hanging out with? Or have you noticed any change in personality or mood swings?"

Misato shook her head. "No, not really, why?"

"Because when I was examining Shinji I noticed his musculature has undergone significant augmentation since I last did a physical. If I had to voice my personal opinion I'd say it was due to steroid or some other artificial hormone abuse."

Misato did a double take "WHAT!? SHINJI!? YOU'RE KIDDING RIGHT!?" she took a second to retrieve her jaw from where it had fallen. "Shinji taking steroids? Ritsuko you are kidding right?"

"I wish I was but these blood tests back up that claim. There are huge amounts of excessive hormones in his bloodstream. Along with some other chemicals were having trouble identifying." The scientist reached back for the clipboard she had deposited and flipped through a few pages. "But we'll worry about that later; he's in no immediate danger so I'm clearing him for visitation. He's in room A-13." She placed a comforting hand on Misato's shoulder. "It's going to be fine, Misato. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah sure." Misato mumbled head downcast. Now Shinji was taking drugs?! Great. Just another thing to add to her list of failures. As the doctor left she followed her out, walking back into the waiting room.

Asuka was on her before she had even cleared the door. "I heard you shouting, he's okay isn't he?" the almost pleading quality of her voice did a number and brought Misato's mind back to the present. So unlike her taunting attitude she had sported a few minutes ago, it was obvious front.

Misato managed a smile. "Yeah he's fine, Doctor Akagi says he's sleeping but it's okay to go see him."

Asuka returned with a wicked smirk "Sleeping? Ha, told you he was gold breaking!" She laughed and sped off towards the ward rooms.

"Wait Asuka!" Misato called after her, but she was already through the doors and out of sight. 'Well I don't suppose she can do any harm.' "Come on Rei, let's go catch up to her."

The blue haired nodded, stood and adjusted her skirt. "Yes Major."

…

Asuka ran through the brightly lit hospital hallway, scanning the clipboards sequestered at the side of each door.

'Damn, should of found out which room he was in.' she grumbled, turning a corner and nearly running over a nurse pushing a food cart.

"Hey!" the woman cried, but Asuka had already sped past, leaving the woman to curse under her breath about the state of today's youth as she worked to clean up the dirty plates that had been thrown to the ground.

'No, no, no, no, no. Ah!' the pilot skidded to a halt in front of room A-13. "Shinji Ikari." She read aloud the name tag mounted on the door frame. Taking a moment to recover from her impromptu foot race, she fixed her hair behind her neural connectors and placed a hand on the door handle. Stealthily she opened the door and crept into the darkened room on cat's feet. No reason to lose the element of surprise, otherwise this wouldn't be nearly as fun.

It took a full second for her eyes to adjust to the darkened interior. After they had however, she took the entire room in a single sweep, finding her prey right where she had anticipated.

Shinji at first glance did appear to be sleeping, surrounded by a plethora of beeping machines. She recognized the EKG attached to his finger, recording the steady tick of the boy's heartbeat. That was the only one she could name however, though she realized the pads stuck to his head must be linked to some kind of brain wave recording machine. Silently she crept to his side, but as she saw him clearly for the first time, all thoughts of childish pranks fled her mind.

Shinji looked…different.

He was bigger. At first she dismissed it as a trick of the light, shadows from the darkened interior playing tricks on her eyes, but as she leaned closer she realized it was true. In his unisex hospital gown it was easy to see the well developed muscles bulging against the almost sheer nature of the garments fabric. Had Shinji been working out? She was sure she would have noticed it sooner, with that kind of change she would have been sure to. But then again she didn't make a habit of voyeurism, unlike some perverts she knew, so she supposed it could have slipped her attention.

As she leaned closer to get an even better look, she a slight rustling coming from the direction of the head of the bed, he must be whispering something. She paced to the top of the bed and bent over, inspecting the sleeping boy more closely.

His lips were slightly moving and she turned her head to the side and held her ear just above his lips.

He wasn't talking, at least in Japanese. In fact to her collegiate educated ears, it sounded more like Latin. Though how and why he would be saying something in a dead language, she had not the slightest idea. She tried to catch exactly what he was saying, but even though she had taken a semester of study in the area, she still couldn't make heads or tails of it. In fact she was starting to get a headache just listening to the mystery gibberish.

Shaking her head, she made to move away but found that she couldn't; something was keeping her head pinned down. A quick glance around and she determined the source of her restraint, one of Shinji's arm's was snaked around her neck and keeping her pinned. She hadn't even noticed him move, so intent had she been on his decoding his whispers.

"Shinji let go!" She demanded angrily, furious that he would dare to touch her without permission. "Let go or I'll sock you!" No response came from him and as she glanced down she realized his eyes were still closed, apparently still asleep.

Grabbing the hand that was wrapped around her neck she attempted to pry it off, but to her surprise it was unmovable, holding her ears above his lips in a vice like grip. The quiet chant of meaningless dribble continued and the aching sensation that had been building behind her eyes continued to grow as she was forced to take it in.

"Shinji! Let me go!" she was pleading now, struggling with all her might to pull away. But still his iron grip compelled her to remain and she noticed with growing fear that the volume of his chanting began to increase, going from a barely audible whisper to a heated hissing. She dug her fingernails into his hand, hard enough to draw blood, but his only response was to pull her even closer, his breath now hot and heavy against the inside of her ear. She was tearing up now, the dull ache turning to outright pain.

Her knees buckled and collapsed underneath her, but she found the pressure on her neck merely increased and she was now held aloft by the impossible grip. The wrongness on his voice continued to assault her and she felt something wet and warm flowing out of her nose. The pain was truly horrific now and her vision swam at the intensity of feeling.

"SHINJI PLEASE!" screaming now, tears streaming down her face in steady rivulets. "STOP IT!" Her other hand the one that wasn't still trying to dislodge his grip found its way to the cords attached to the EKG. She yanked on them and managed to pull one of them loose. The sound of a flat line didn't reach her ears however, all she could hear was the constant pounding of his hissing slithering chant and from somewhere the sounds of drums, deep rhythmic and primordial.

Her whole body was shaking now, uncontrollable spasms as all her nerves experienced random firings. However as always she was held close and she found herself looking again to his eyes, which were no longer closed. Black pools of liquid they had become and she felt herself drawn inexplicitly into them. In them she could see peace, release from the horrific pain that this situation was piling on her. If she could just reach the idyllic shores that the infinite calm of those orbs suggested, it would all be worth it.

'_Come child.' _The words were not spoken, instead they merely were. _'Rejoice in the tranquil land of the other. Let yourself be at peace with the unspoken laws of the unending plain. Come rest your weary soul in my embrace. Embrace…oblivion."_

The pain that had been plaguing her since the whole horrible ordeal faded as swiftly as it had come on. So did the restraining hand on her neck. Instead she was drifting in a veritable bubble of calm, like someone had injected her with a near lethal dose of sedative. She closed her eyes and let the feeling overwhelm her, washing away aches and pains that had been incurred moments ago. It was like floating on a light summer breeze, the warm caress of the wind whisking away the reins of control that she had struggled with for so long. It was reminiscent of a gentle mother's touch, something that she had listed after for the majority of her natural life. It was perfection. All the years of nascent self hate and doubt were sloughing away like dirt and sweat in a hot shower. It wasn't her fault her mother had abandoned her, like all of humanity she was intrinsically flawed, this did not reflect on her as an individual instead it reflected on her mother's inability to maintain a loving guardianship, her fault not Asuka's. It was all so clear now! So childish when she looked back, seeking her deceased mother's approval by holding herself to un-maintainable standards of perfection. Yes it was…

Faint sounds at the edge of her glorious rebirth failed to penetrate her sphere of realization, however yanking sensation and the feel of the cold hard floor as it rushed up to meet her did.

Lifting her head from where it had fallen she cried out as the feeling of revelation fled her senses, leaving her in the same normalcy she had endured for too long. She searched for the cause of this disruption, instead she found Misato, shouting something at her, though her words were muffled and sounded as if they traveled from a great distance. Asuka smiled stupidly, her mind working in slow motion as it processed this new information. From behind her guardian, the accursed First Child rushed, stepping over Asuka's prone form and jumping up on the bed where Shinji still lay. Funny, she seemed to have a terrified expression on her face, the first time Asuka had ever seen her show emotion. Asuka lolled her head back and giggled, sitting up at the same time.

*SLAP!* Misato's backhand knocked her to back to the floor. At a same time, the feeling of pain coursed through her cheek, banishing the strange fog that had occupied her mind moments before. Everything came back in a rush, sound regular and her vision straight.

Feeling returned to her body and she was aware of being hoisted up by two strong yet manicured hands.

"What the fuck were you doing!?" Misato screeched as she shook Asuka by her shirt collar.

Asuka was confused; the last thing she remembered was coming into the room and thinking to herself how good Shinji looked. Then she had heard some kind of noise and…she drew a blank.

"What are you talking about?" she growled, dropping into her old defensive self. "Get off of me!" she struggled and Misato relinquished her grip, only to grab her by the scruff of the neck and turn her forcibly towards the hospital bed where Rei was tenderly cradling Shinji's head in her lap.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Misato angrily demanded, violently pushing Asuka forward against the metal framed hospital bed. "Why would you do that to him? Are you fucking insane?!"

Asuka was about retort with her own choice obscenities when for the first time she realized just what had made the Major flip her top.

Angry red bruises, already turning a sickly purple, painted a mirrored picture on both sides of the bedridden boy's neck. Shinji himself was wide awake, eyes wide open and staring. He was struggling to breathe, a harsh wracking wheezing sound that hurt Asuka just to listen to.

Even worse however was where he was staring; staring directly at Asuka, his terrified eyes as wide as saucers and he unconsciously shivered under her gaze. Unable to stand being under the harsh scrutiny those accusing orbs; she shifted her gaze instead to the seated First Child, who was stroking Shinji's distressed hair in a futile attempt to calm him.

Feeling the Second's eyes on her, Rei lifted her red eyes to meet Asuka's blue and the redhead was taken aback by what she saw there. Hate and anger. Emotions that she'd never believed the doll was capable of were coming off in palpable waves and she was lost to why any of this was happening.

"Misato what happened to Shinji? What happened?! LET GO OF ME! Have you all gone crazy?" She yelled as she writhed in the other woman's headlock, sending an elbow back into Misato's stomach that connected with an *oof*. As her guardian reeled in shock, she wormed her way out of her grip and made a dash for the door. She made it in record time, rounded the corner and spied an exit sign at the end of the hall.

She didn't know exactly what was going on, but something told her that she had to get out of there fast. So she thought as she sprinted down the hallway.

'Almost there!' she thought as she neared the end of the hallway and the green EXIT sign. Behind her she could hear Misato shouting for her to come back and the slapping of her shoes as she gave pursuit.

'Aha!' she reached the door and pushed the bar to open it. From here it was a short run to the elevator, then she could lose any would be pursuers in the pedestrian traffic that was sure to be congesting the streets of Tokyo-3.

Rushing through the door she risked a quick glance back. Misato was indeed chasing her, as was a some lab-coat clad doctor and a pair of Section-2 Agents. Where they had sprung from, she couldn't fathom, but they were far behind and surely wouldn't catch her in time. Pushing the open bar she ran…

And into a wall. Or something very big and built like one.

The Section-2 Agent that she had collided with wrapped his massive arms around her in an all encompassing bear hug. She struggled once again, banging her head into his glasses clad face. But it was all in vain; he merely shrugged off the blow and maintained his constraining grip. So she switched tactics, biting as hard as she could on the man's exposed chin. He yelled out in pain as her teeth managed to draw blood and the very surprised security agent let his arms slacken, if ever so slightly. It was all she needed as she managed to buck wildly and drop to the floor before him. A punch to the groin finished her impromptu blitzkrieg and she made to continue her escape, only to be tackled from behind by one of the other agents, who had caught up in the brief moments of her ensnarement. He pinned her to the ground beneath his bulk, finding even that to be difficult.

"Hey doc, think I can get some help here?" he yelled to the doctor she had seen earlier, who arrived out of breath along with Misato.

The doctor didn't reply but instead knelt down next to the struggling pair and she felt something sharp jab into the base of her neck and a numb sensation spread from the area. Soon a dark hazy ring formed around the edge of her vision and she felt herself slipping into sleep. The last thing she saw before sleep claimed her was Misato talking urgently into her radio, pained expression writ on her face.

…

"Major what do you want to do with her?" The Section-2 Agent hoisted Asuka's unconscious form up from where she had been laid. "Should we return her to the apartment?"

Misato breathed in deeply, trying to calm her dangerously close to frayed nerves.

"No, take her to the holding cells; let her sleep off the sedative. I'll inform command of the situation, I'll inform you of my final decision after I confer with them."

The anonymous spook nodded his head and bundled the sedated Second Child in his arms and made off down the hallway, past the still moaning and writhing agent, who was getting a one over by the doctor and off to the lift.

Misato ignored the pair and made her way back to Shinji's room.

'What the hell is wrong with Asuka? What could make her do what she had done?' Misato shuddered as she recalled the scene her and Rei had been treated to as they had first entered the recovery room.

Asuka had sat straddling Shinji, her milky exposed legs on either side of the bedridden teenager's torso. However any thought of teasing on Misato's behalf due to the awkward position of the bed's two occupants were dashed when she noticed just what the entangled pair were up to.

"ASUKA! Get off him!" she had cried, but the red head had ignored her, head lolled to the side facing the two new entrants, plastered with a look of sublime ecstasy. Instead she seemed to put even more to the task her hands were occupied. Shinji, if he had been sleeping, was now no longer and his eyes bulged as the hands around his throat sought to end his life.

"Ikari!" a cry from Rei had prompted Misato into action and she crossed the distance between herself and Asuka, throwing the teen clear off the bed and onto the linoleum floor. It was only then that she had shown any sign of recognition, almost as if she had woken from a trance.

Misato decided she'd figure it out all later, after she checked in on Shinji and figured out what to do with Asuka.

"Asuka?" the question came as a hoarse whisper and Misato recognized it as being Shinji's.

"It's alright she's gone." Misato approached the bed, placed a reassuring hand on the youth's head and tousled his hair. "You're safe now."

Shinji rubbed his neck and shook his head. "No, I meant is she alright. You didn't hurt her did you?" the beseeching look in his eyes reached out to Misato and tugged on her heartstrings.

"She'll be fine, just a little sleepy when she finally comes too. Shinji do you know why she did that?"

Shinji closed his eyes and shook his head. "No-no I just woke up and she was here, I-I didn't even manage to say anything." Misato noticed the damp corners of his eyes and hurriedly asked the next question before he lost it.

"Shinji-kun, I have just one more question and then you can go back to sleep, ok?" Shinji nodded his head, a nearly imperceptible movement. Misato cleared her throat and forged ahead. "Where have you been? What happened to you?"

The brown haired boy let a confused look cloud his features. "What do you mean? I'm guessing I must have fainted or something right?"

"Shinji-kun what day of the week is it today?"

Now he looked confused "Um, yesterday was Saturday…so I'm guessing today is Sunday right?"

"It is now Monday evening Pilot Ikari. You have been missing for over a day." Rei spoke up for the first time from her cushion position.

"What?" his incredulous answer was all Misato needed to hear to draw the obvious conclusion.

"So you have no idea what happened to you Saturday night?" Shinji shook his head in response. "Nothing at all?" Another negative. Sighing deeply she got up from where she had seated herself on the edge of the bed and attempted to put on an air of humor.

"Well okay Rip Van Winkle," she ignored the questioning look Rei shot at her quip "I'm sure Dr. Akagi will be interested in your miraculous recovery. So I'll go enlighten her and leave you in more adept hands." She switched her gaze to the First Child and took on a mock tone of command. "Pilot Ayanami I'm ordering you to stay here with Pilot Ikari and make sure he's protected from any further injury. Think you can handle that?" she finished with a pointed wink.

Rei nodded her head solemnly "I promise you no further harm will befall him while I am present."

'Well I guess some things never change. Girl probably doesn't have the ability to take a hint, let alone sarcasm.' Misato mentally groaned as she left the two teenagers to their own designs.

She had a report to make; it was her duty, though to her it was more. She couldn't help but think that she had failed them again, trading one ward for the other.

'Dammit Asuka! Why couldn't we just have one crisis free day to ourselves!? If it's not Angels its disappearing pilots and teenage drug use!' She bemoaned regrettably, lamenting the soap opera caricature her life had become. 'What's next? Unplanned pregnancy and saucy love triangle!? Hah, I wouldn't doubt it if some evil twin showed up and started…' Her thoughts trailed off as she made her way through the byzantine morass of corridors that would lead her to the command center and eventually her true destination.

…

Swab goes on, swab comes off. Ritsuko wiped the specimen swab around the used cigarettes filter, her fingers pursed in concentration, though it wasn't the task at hand that held her attention, she had worked enough with genetic material to know the procedure for identifying a specific individual through their DNA. No, it was instead the results of her recent examination of the recovered pilot that had her so occupied.

The boy had her worried. Shinji's blood work showed aberrations in several base proteins, increased levels of leukocytes and an almost obscene level of red blood cells. She had left this out of the brief report she had shared with Misato mainly because she herself didn't understand it. However what she had mentioned was true. Even to a passing cursory inspection it was plainly obvious that Shinji musculature and bone structure had been augmented. The skeletal discrepancies she could put down to puberty, he was after all a young teen and they were pretty much expected to grow a couple inches. However the strange highly packed density and size of the young man's muscles was not. It was not possible for that amount of change to occur between the last time she had administered Ikari a detailed physical, at least not by any natural means.

Which is why she had asked the Major about any recent changes in the teen's behavior, drugs; particularly anabolic steroids, would explain his sudden muscle growth and the abnormal protein bases could be a resultant of some sort of hormonal cocktail injection. As for the other oddities, she wasn't sure; she'd have to wait for a more detailed report to come out.

The cogitator beeped a two tone melody to signal its warm up cycle was complete and Ritsuko slipped the test tube with the distilled sample into the machine's input slot, closed the lid and pressed the appropriate sequence of buttons. With a hum the machine went to its work with a healthy vigor, beginning the long arduous process of identifying the base DNA strand then comparing it with the different individuals contained in the various genetic databases that NERV had its hands in.

Ritsuko craned her back and interlaced her hands above her head. This was going to take a while, first it had to identify the base pairs of this individual's double helix, and then it would search, branching out from the central NERV database and beyond; starting with NERV personnel then working its way out to the civilian and military database servers. The chances that her missing killer would be documented in one of these databases was indefinite ably slim. Not everyone's DNA was recorded and thousands of records were invariably lost in the confusion after Second Impact.

Hundreds of names flashed by, a steady blur as the powerful computer put forward thousands of possible matches, and then disregarded the incorrect entries just as quickly. The scientist closed her eyes, content to let the machine complete its arduous task in peace. The quiet hum of the machines processor played on her tired nerves making sleep an all too real possibility and one that wouldn't be most the unwelcome event.

She had just entered the state between the eyes of sleep when a sudden soft beeping informed her that her search had come to fruition.

"And such an early harvest." She muttered under her breath. "All right you sick bastard let's see who you are." Her eyes finally rested on the smiling mug-shot portrait of the culprit behind the grisly Fukka murder and she was shocked beyond belief by what she found.

Flabbergasted, floored, astounded with disbelieving panic. All failed to truly project the absolute incredulity in which she regarded the computer terminal she faced.

"Oh my god." Her suddenly very sweaty hand fumbled for the laboratory's phone and trembling fingers quickly mashed in the number for the direct line that tapped in straight to the Commander's office. Here there was no time to spare with weakly formatted excuses and speculations; not when this was concerning something that just in its contemplation compromised the very nature of NERV's scenario with its smallest manifest ramifications.

This was something that would undoubtedly change everything. For better or more likely for worse.

Much worse.

…

"Ayanami-san, you-you can let go of me. I'm feeling much better now." Shinji's voice shattered the peaceful silence that had been a prevalent aspect of the ward room ever since Major Katsuragi had left mere minutes ago. Rei jumped at the sudden intrusion, by instinct protectively pulling his head closer to her bosom. Embarrassed by this, she felt the appropriate rush of color fill her cheeks, doubled as she looked down and found his dark blue eyes staring up at her. She quickly averted her gaze.

Below her Shinji wiggled out of her tight embrace and propped his back up against the head of the hospital bed, legs extended out to their full length, eyes closed and mouth slightly open.

'Pilot Ikari is getting bigger.' Rei mused to herself; idly noticing the way Shinji's well muscled calves protruded out from the concealing shroud of his hospital gown. This was another new feeling for her, pride maybe or something very akin to it.

"Ugh." The sharp groan that escaped from unseen lips roused her from her stupor and directed her attention further back up to Shinji's face. The sole male Evangelion pilot had his hand on his forehead, grimacing as if he was in pain.

"Are you alright Ikari?" Rei asked sincerely, leaning forward to try and get a look at Shinji's expression from under where it had been obscured in the teenagers lowered and darkened visage.

His head rose slowly out of the shadow of his hanging bangs, eyes shining with a feral predatory light that sent her scrambling to the far reaches of the bed in newfound fear. A wolfish mocking smile spread on crimson lips.

"Please, call me _Shinji_."

…

A/N Whew, that was a long time coming. I had the first part written about three weeks ago and it took a sleepless bender of alcohol and caffeine to finish the rest. Mayhap's that might explain the larger errors in the grammatical and logic sense, but I digress.

The next chapter will see the entrance of the long awaited tenth Angel, an event that will be recognized with the appropriate pomp _und_ circumstance. Also going to introduce the main antagonist right out of left field (no it's not Gendo, or SEELE for that matter ;) ).

Oh and get ready because someone is going to get Shoggoth'ed and in a big way!

Reviews as always appreciated, good or bad.

Anyways until next time,

Peace


	5. A Little R&D

The island sat in the middle of a calm ocean, a random emerald paint splotch surrounded by a vast canvas of grayish blue. It had once been much larger, but after the advent of Second Impact the waters had risen and the vast majority had been submerged underneath the waves. However dry land had not completely surrendered its hold on the area, simply retreating to the mountain top. The flora and fauna had retreated too, the result being a true tropical rain forest, albeit a miniature one; complete with huge stinging insects, poisonous plants and twisting claustrophobic avenues of suffocating foliage.

In the truth the only thing extraordinary about this particular island was the fact that it didn't exist. Not on any map available for public purchase anyways. In fact no one actually knew the exact latitude and longitude that it was located at, those being stored in digital form protected by one of the most advanced (and encrypted) computer servers in the western hemisphere.

The pilots that flew the monthly supply sorties received their telemetry and navigation data via encrypted data burst streams bounced off a series of United States Military satellites. It appeared as a directional arrow on their digital compass, pointing the way towards a series of randomly generated waypoints finally ending at the paradise lost and the mainland on their return trip back. The pilots themselves were mostly ex-military, randomly selected from a pool of security cleared candidates. They would fly one mission, receiving the considerable payment after their return to the mainland, after signing a non-disclosure agreement. Really though it was the installation of remote activated explosive devices in various parts of the pilots craft that dissuaded disobedience more than any amount of legal haranguing.

Attempting to arrive at the island by any other means would be a fool's quest at best, a successful suicide attempt at worst. Razor sharp rocks encompassed the whole circumference of the island, the remains of the islands old peaks. The beaches, or rather lack of them would also prove to be impossible to surmount. No harbor or piers broke through the nearly vertical peaks that lined the shores.

Indeed there seemed to be no signs of human habitation in the area, whether viewed from the air or by sea, the only exception being a small clearing located smack dab in the thickest of the island's bush and a rusty radio tower stuck in the rocky crags of the western cliffs.

To the casual observer the obvious conclusion to come to would be just another deserted tropical pacific island, whatever hold man had once had on it now gone from its verdant shores. For all appearances the island that didn't exist didn't for a reason. There was nothing there to merit proving it did so.

…

Dr. Sandler shielded his face from flying debris as the helicopter touched down in the grassy clearing. Running at a half crouch he closed the distance between himself and the now stationary vehicle. Taking the shipping manifest from the pilot, he quickly scanned the contents, scribbled his signature on the line and handed it back. Heading back the way he came he flashed a-ok in the direction of the clearing, passing a quartet of green colored jump-suited workers that seemed to materialize from out of the darkness of the trees. He left the clearing, comfortable in letting his underlings completing the task without his direct supervision. Behind him the work detail went quickly about their business of unloading and transporting the helicopters cargo back to the facilities storerooms.

Following the winding dirt trail that made its way out of the clearing, Sandler soon found him-self at the pitted metal portal that served as the entrance to the underground portion of the base. They were situated against the face of a rather steep cliff side, chipped concrete frame painted to resemble the rock face.

Taking a keycard from the front pocket of his sweat stained lab-coat, he slid it through the card reader abscessed into the doorframe and growled with frustration when the screen mounted above it flickered and froze halfway between the "ACCEPTED" letter and the ready screen. Smashing his fist against the metal paneling that surrounded the unit he was relieved when it flickered once more and acknowledged his presence. With a groan and no small amount of rusty creaking the half meter thick door disappeared into the ceiling. Stepping quickly over the threshold into the dimly lit corridor beyond, he wrinkled his nose unconsciously as the stale feeling of recycled air once again filled his nostrils.

He walked down the hallway, noting with some disgust the many burnt out light-bulbs that had yet to be replaced since his last trip to the surface.

'God damn budget cuts, this place is falling apart from the inside out. No that's not exactly right; it's all going to shit! How can the new home office expect quality results of any kind if we're given nothing to work with?!' he fumed silently before coming to a stop at the base's security station. A simple wooden desk sat to one side of the corridor and behind it hung a worn and battered flag; the faded letters NHIS barely visible among the dust and grime that coated it. Next to that was a plaque, a much more recent addition, engraved with the name American Technology Industries.

"Hey George how are we doing today?" the uniformed man sitting behind the desk asked as he handed Sandler the entry log.

"Fine Mr. Redinson and no before you ask there are no new arrivals, this flight was strictly a resupply run." He replied, scribbling his signature in the appropriate area.

The security officer snatched the clipboard back and flashed a sleazy smile. "It's not just any arrivals I'm interested in Doc, just if they got the right _assets_, if you know what I mean?" he winked and Sandler laughed.

"What's the matter officer? Can't go two years without dropping your pants?" the doctor replied with a grin.

The larger man raised his hand to his chest in mock indignation. "I'm sorry sir but unlike you androids we measly humans have to engage in the ole hanky panky once in a while to how do you say it; maintain optimal system efficiency."

"Well that's true, although we also don't have to worry about the clap or paying for our entertainment either."

"Eh fuck you sir."

"I should report that, but…"

"Then who would fill in the empty seat at the card table Thursday?" the other man finished with a grin.

"Right, I'll see you then." To which the officer replied with a casual flip of his hat and turned back to his magazine. 'Ingrate.'

At the end of the winding concrete burrow he waited for the arrival of the facility's personnel elevator. When it finally arrived and the scarred doors opened to admit him, he stepped aside to let a few uniformed guards make their out and then strode inside. He depressed the button labeled L-Five, his destination the commissary for some well deserved grade-A slop. Then he would make his way back to his office and begin on the supplementary paperwork validating the bulk of today's pointless endeavors.

As head of R&D of Station Twelve, the island facilities colorful name, it was his duty to authorize increases in the research department budget and rein in spending when it got out of hand. Of course he didn't find himself doing much of either nowadays, the six original projects that had been birthed in the darkened confines of the earth having been reduced to two. The other four had died of asphyxiation when the sudden takeover had occurred last month, though they had been languishing in the red long before that.

Curse the short sighted idiocy of the eastern branch! Those idiots at the Tokyo-2 office had killed themselves and over that Jet Alone fiasco and had doomed the rest of the solidarity to the half dead existence that they were in now. It had been a miracle when ATI had mined out the company's shares and took majority control of the company. The incoming funds which had flowed to a standstill had become a trickle, just enough to maintain base operations. Still it was better than nothing and facility director Donovan had prioritized the more important projects. Thankfully that meant Sandler got to keep his job as project Lazarus had been one of those sustained.

It was strange though he had to admit. Lazarus was supposedly a military backed endeavor though he had never seen any funds requisitioned from the government, it was always privately and discreetly provided from various slush funds.

'Couldn't blame them for not wanting to be associated though, if it ever came to light…'

Not that it would, that was after all the reason for all this stations security. Hell the vast majority of the sixty odd personnel stationed here had no idea what exactly was located in the research labs, let alone level thirteen, except the technicians and scientists directly involved. Plausible deniability was the name of the game, the order that superseded everything in this place.

"_Paging Doctor Sandler to Director Donovan's office, paging Doctor Sandler to Director Donovan's office." _the facilities P.A. system crackled as he prepared to exit the elevator.

"Damn." He muttered darkly as he retreated and punched the button that would bring him to the administration level. Lunch would have to wait until later; Donovan was not a man to keep waiting.

A few minutes later found him in the office corridor, noticeably better maintained than the outlying corridors.

Dr. Sandler ran his hand through his fading hair, taking a moment to make himself more presentable. His lab coat was still soaked with sweat from his brief excursion outside, but he couldn't do anything about that now.

He reached for the door handle but was preempted as it swung open and one of his colleagues, Dr. Yahari, exited. He was obviously angry, it was plainly writ on his face and as he stormed out he gave George a withering look of mixed resentment and pity.

'Shit, so he's in one of those moods.' Sandler grumbled, penetrating the inner sanctum and entering the beast's lair.

The first thing he noticed when he entered was the open bottle of scotch sitting predominantly displayed on the desk. Next was his superior himself, tie undone, business suit unfastened and worn haphazardly crooked on his usually composed figure and his horn rimmed glasses were lying on their side at the edge of the desk. This was going to be bad.

"George, have a seat." Donovan gestured with his empty tumbler and Sandler did as he was bid, plopping himself down into the one of empty seats arranged before the desk.

"Drink?" the facility director gestured to an empty glass, but he shook his head.

"Suit yourself." The man behind the desk poured himself another shot, which he immediately gulped, set down his glass and poured another.

Dr. Sandler waited patiently as this cycle was repeated again, Donovan seeming to have forgotten his presence, more attentive on his now readily apparent misery than the task at hand. Finally he could take no more and with a slightly louder than required clearing of his throat, managed to regain the attention of his host.

Donovan regarded his subordinate with wavering eyes "I just got a call from the home office, they're shutting us down. Something about 'lack of visible progress' or some bull. The extraction choppers are coming tomorrow to kick us out and bring in the cleanup crew." Reaching into his desk he pulled out a stack of papers and slid them over. "Your orders are to secure or destroy all project relevant materials, dole out final paychecks and coordinate the final control sweep."

George picked up the documents and gave them a cursory one over. "Sir what about the Lazarus subjects and the core samples?" he tentatively asked once he had completed his reading.

"Level five containment techniques." Donovan's face was a stony mask but Sandler could pick up the undercurrent of distaste in his words.

It was understandable; level five was a complete purge, a distasteful euphemism for a much more sinister task. "Yes sir."

The other man didn't respond but instead reached back into the desk and took out another envelope, this one sealed with red tape and with "TOP SECRET" blazoned across its manila surface. He slid it over as well.

"This came along with the others, but I was instructed to leave it sealed, for your eyes only." He let the glass rise to his lips again.

Dr. Sandler picked up the sealed envelope and stood to leave. "I'll read it on my way down, is there anything else?"

"No that's it," he paused for a moment and leaned back in his chair "It's been a pleasure working with you Doctor; I wish it didn't have to end like this."

Sandler shrugged "It was destined to happen sooner or later; frankly I'm amazed this didn't happen months ago."

The station director grunted something unintelligible and George took the opportunity to leave, shutting the door quietly as he left, leaving the man who had so recently been his superior to his drinking.

'Damn, damn, damn.' Were his only thoughts as the door clicked softly behind him and he made his way back to the elevator. It really was amazing this post had lasted as long as it had, he didn't have to have a master's degree to figure that out. He supposed he'd miss this place and the people here, it had after all been what he had called home for the past three years and he had some fond memories. He knew practically everyone and had no small amount of friends in them.

Of course it wouldn't be that hard to find new work, it was a big world and individuals with degrees in bio-engineering and advanced cybernetics would always be in demand. Not that he'd be able to list any of the work he'd done for the last three years on his résumé, the strict confidentiality agreements had survived the Nippon Heavy Industry Solidarity well past its untimely death and subsequent resurrection.

The lab was deserted when he finally reached level thirteen, news of the imminent shut down had probably reached the general populace by now and his technicians were most likely off packing. He didn't blame them; he would have been the same if his attention wasn't required here. It was his burden to bear.

'Speaking of burdens.' He sat down at one of the vacant tables, cleared away some empty test tubes and using his thumb, broke the seal on the mystery document the director had given him. Setting aside the cover page he read the short set of orders contained within.

---

To: Dr. George Sandler, Station Twelve Research Facility

From: Roger Cruz, Vice President of ATI, Director of Research and Development, New York-2, USA.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

All materials and data related to PROJECT LAZARUS are to be summarily destroyed with the exception of data concerning Subject 18, which is to be transported via secure data encryption disk along with the subject itself to the ATI branch office in Tokyo-2, Japan.

You are ordered to accompany the materials to the destination to ensure timely delivery and trade off. No one is to be informed of the reason the transfer, take all means to maintain situational security as pertained in Section 14.12.7-3 of your company policy handbook.

The core sample extracted by the late Prof. Wendson is to be destroyed along with the rest of the material.

A private helicopter will be dispatched immediately to Station Twelve to facilitate your transfer. Expected time of arrival is 2200 Pacific Island Time the night of this messages dispatch.

After reading this message, please make sure you take the proper steps to ensure its full destruction.

Thank you for your cooperation,

Roger Cruz, VP, American Technology Industries

---

George cursed out loud and reread the entire letter, making sure he had perceived it correctly the first time. He had, which worried him more than if he hadn't. Still nothing for it, an order was an order, no matter how ill advised it might be and at least he wouldn't have to look for a new job. At least not yet.

Sighing heavily he looked at his watch. 1300, he'd have to have some help to get things moving if he was to be ready by tonight. He picked up the laboratory's phone and dialed an extension. After a few rings the other end picked up.

"This is Technician Weaver, go ahead." The voice on the other end stated in a no nonsense business tone.

"Hey Sam, this is George. I need your help down in the lab. I suppose by this time you've heard about the closing." As he talked he pushed the letter into the eager jaws of a reticent paper shredder, which gobbled down the proffered meal.

"Yeah I just found out from one of the guards, though it wasn't that big of a surprise." The line went dead for a second. "Still though I suppose I should be grateful to get off this rock and I'm sure my wife will appreciate a break."

"Yeah I'm sure she will, but anyways I need you down here to help, we're going to do a Level-5 sweep."

"Shit, alright I'll be down in a little while. I just need to finish stuffing my bags."

"Alright." Sandler hung up the phone and walked to the other side of the lab and paused in front of a sealed and pressurized tank, the home of the master sample; the basis of all the work conducted in this remote lab. Staring at the vial of bubbling material, held as always between the sturdy grip of two robotic pincers and allowed himself to drift back thirteen years ago when this whole ordeal had begun.

It had all started with the discovery of a strange magnetic field by a military surveillance satellite over a section of what once consisted of the state of Massachusetts, flooded when the sea had surged in during the tumultuous days after Second Impact.

NHIS had been contracted by the United States Army to reconnoiter the area and determine the cause of the mystery field. Dr. Sandler had been a junior staff member then and had been assigned to the job under Professor Wendson, a senior research team member and formerly tenured at Harvard.

Why he had been assigned to the recovery effort at the time had baffled George. After all at the time the theory had been that the field was being generated by a mineral deposit of some sort, not exactly the area of expertise for someone in his field. But his doubts were offset and soothed by the exciting prospect of field work and the opportunity to work with such a notable researcher as Prof. Wendson. Later after it was all said and done his original cynicism returned and he was led to believe that someone had anticipated the horrible and bizarre events to come.

According to the Pre-Second Impact maps provided to the expedition the area below had already been underwater before the great floods, serving as a water reservoir for the nearby, now extinct, town of Arkham.

Morale had been high and the initial exploratory dives had gone flawlessly. Sonar had revealed ruins of some sorts below the waves and the photos sent back by the dive teams had confirmed the existence of what appeared to be a nineteenth century era farmhouse, eaten away down to the stone frame by the ravages of time and the sea. It was a curiosity to be sure and asked more questions than it answered.

However the true discovery had come when the survey team had discovered what lay in the exact center of the spherical wave field. It was an ancient well, capped by a heavy cover stone, held in place by a trio of nearly disintegrated steel chains. It was here that the magnetic readings were strongest and Prof. Wendson had deduced that whatever was causing the strange reading must be contained within. He had gone down the next day with the divers, intent on opening the odd construction and exploring its inner secrets.

They had never returned. At first nobody had thought anything of it; Professor Wendson was known to get lost deep in his work. But after the first hour had passed with no word from the dive team the people topside knew something was wrong. Panicked crew rushed to find some explanation for the cessation of communication and a second set of divers were assembled to begin searching for answers.

They were just getting ready to depart when the Professor had surfaced, his limp form bobbing gently with the waves. The divers who had just seconds ago been preparing to jump in had done so and dragged the old man back on board. Sandler had seen him then, as the medics pulled of his regulator and rushed him away to the ships clinic.

The skin of the corpse, for it had to be one, had a grayish tinge to it and was bloated to the point of bursting. It was as if he had been missing for a month, not a mere hour and a half. The eyes were bulging, leaking orbs of putrescence gel that leaked yellowish fluid down his face in a grotesque parody of tears. The mouth was fixed in a permanent scream and he had winced as several teeth fell out when the medics pried out the breathing apparatus from between clenched jaws.

But that wasn't the last time he would lay eyes on the wretched figure that the once proud teacher had become and it was something that he would never forget, or understand for the rest of his life.

There are some things on this Earth that will deny any sort of rational explanation, he had always maintained. The strange and grotesque fate of Professor Wendson was one of those.

It was the night after the mysterious disappearance and he was out on the deck getting some fresh air. He shared a cabin with another two scientists, both horrendous snorers, and he had sought shelter from the auditory assault. His wandering had led him up and out into the chilly night air and other than the night watchman positioned on the forward bow, he was alone.

Eventually he made his way to the aft section, a shadowed area lit only by a single guide light high up on the bridge's tower. The shadowed retreat seemed fitting somehow, a somber retreat of his mind into the darkness of the previous days. The dive teams hadn't had any luck finding the rest of the bodies, but then again they had not been allowed to search the area around the well, so there had been no way to find out what had happened. Instead they planned to use a remotely controlled miniature submersible to search the area, so as not to risk further human life.

It had been there, leaning over the ship's railing, that he had borne witness to the unthinkable. The soft creak of a bulkhead door opening failed to illicit his full attention, as did the soft patter of bare feet on the metal deck. The ghastly sickening moan, like the dying call of a wounded animal, however did so and he had whirled around to face the perceived threat and found himself at lost for even thought.

Though the skin was cracked and mottled, eye sockets empty bare pits and the hair had been reduced to a few straggly strands, there was no doubt the naked apparition that had appeared before him had once been Prof. Wendson. Dry, flaking, fingernail-less hands groped blindly at his lab coat, pulling him close to a decaying chest.

"Feed…feed the void…rend the flesh…sickly sweat, sweet innards…drying, sucking marrow…kill for the master, dust to dust to color…" the voice that emanated from the cracked and split lips was akin to that of sandpaper dragging across metal, dry and grating. "The color, color of emptiness…kill…kill…hunger, always hunger, devour all, end all…"

George had let out a panicked shout and had attempted to force the horrible abomination away, but its unyielding grip had held and it slowly began to force him against the railing of the ship and George knew that to fall into the cold sea below would surely mean death, whether by drowning or whatever eldritch horror had claimed the Professor and the dive team. As he felt his center of mass pitch inexplicably over the edge, he had felt a level of fear that he had never experienced before in his long life give way to a quiet sense of acceptance as his fate became apparent.

Just as well it was at that moment that the night watchman had arrived and rallied to his cause, pulling the reanimated terror away by its scaly shoulders. They had tumbled away together, the sailor falling under the weight of the zombie's bulk. Immediately it changed its malevolent attention to George's erstwhile rescuer, plunging its rotting fingers into the unfortunate man's eyes and digging deeply into the soft tissue.

The sailor's panicked screams served to spur Sandler out of his stupor and he rushed over to the ships bulkhead and searched frantically for some kind of weapon. His eyes set on a boathook and he pried the makeshift spear from its bindings and turned back to the struggling duo, but he could tell just from a glance he was too late.

Professor Wendson let the sailors lower jaw fall from bloodied pincers and his eyeless gaze had swung back to his original victim.

George had tightened his grip on the boathook, to steady himself but mainly to stop the ever increasing shaking sensation that had seemingly invaded his hands.

"Ravish the flesh that binds the skin that holds the heart that pumps the blood, the blood so sweet to taste, to drink..." the figures crazed mantra continued as it rose to its feet, taut, crumbling skin creaking like aged leather. It lurched forward, arms held out seeking new pray and for a moment George was reminded of a movie he had seen as a child, _The Revenge of the Mummy_ and he wondered if there was some evil curse at work here as well.

He had swung the hook as hard as he could and was half surprised when it connected with a dry _thump _against the walking corpses head. The Professor's skull made a sickening crunching noise and the apparition dropped soundlessly to the ground.

George prodded the body with the sharp end of the hook and to his disgust found it sank through the skin almost effortlessly, almost as if something had eaten the body from the outside in, reducing it merely to a dry rotted husk.

He had run to the bridge then and breathlessly explained what had happened to the First Mate. The man had been disbelieving to say the least, but when he had finally given in and followed him down to the deck his pointed opinion had quickly changed its tune.

That had been the true beginning of the assignment that had eventually been appropriately labeled Project Lazarus. The next day the robotic probe had returned with the master sample, extracted from the bottom of the accursed well and it he had worked with that same mystery material for the next year and a half trying to discover its many secrets.

Showing organic properties, yet not based on carbon chains the sample had baffled him with its ability to resist analysis and almost all forms of material interaction. Truly the only thing that seemed to have effect on the bubbling genetic morass was acute electrical discharge, the result which would be a complete destruction of the sample material, complete breakdown at the atomic level.

Even more fascinating than the makeup of the sample was its effect on living things. Lab mice exposed to trace amounts of the substance were reduced to dry husks within a matter of hours, capable of basic locomotion but deprived of any semblance of sentience. And when administered in larger quantities, physical contact wasn't even required, the effect seeming to work by mere proximity.

Along with this transformation came a profound aggressive nature and a total loss of self preservation. When reintroduced into the holding cage with the uninfected control group, the infected mice would violently attack and dismember all comers, ignoring only their fellow changed compatriots. Even when confronted with larger animals, such as a cat or dog, the affected animal would still attempt to attack and swarm its prey.

The same effect was to be seen on animals of all makes and creed and surprisingly plant matter as well, though the plants thankfully deigned to only dry out and die instead of descending into coniferous berserker frenzy.

It had puzzled the research team to no end, the seemingly impossible rule bending properties and it had been no help when they had received orders from on high to begin work on possible military applications of the anomalous substance. George had been unsurprised at this development and always the pragmatic soul, had begun work immediately.

At first they had tried culturing specimens in the lab, to be aerosolized into a gaseous form, but that had met with repeated failures, the potency of the mixture losing its effectiveness once separated from the core sample. Repeated attempts at similar solid delivery systems had met with analogous failures.

This lack of progress had not gone over well with the company headquarters and they had threatened to pull financing to the project if some form of tangible success was not met. At this time the Jet Alone project had been making headway and they were in no way willing to part with valuable resources on some backwater dead end when they could be put to something more profitable.

Sandler, at the head of the task force, had been ready to throw in the towel when he had received an e-mail from a fellow colleague at the NHIS plant based in Moscow. Inside the encrypted message he had found an incredibly detailed analysis of the Lazarus material, far beyond any stage of completion his team had been able to summarize. Included also was outline for retro-virus therapy level gene manipulation and a list of suitable procedural applications for combining the basic genetic properties of the substance with that of carbon base life forms. The exact final results of this line of experimentation were not however included amid the message, though it did suggest that doing so would prolong the necro-phagic effects of the sample and in effect create a stable carrier form for distribution.

At the time it had seemed too good to be true and George had attempted to contact the e-mail's sender. Strangely when he finally reached the Moscow station, he found that the employee in question had died under mysterious circumstances a good fortnight before. Baffled he had tried to find out more about the woman's work, but had met with even more confusion as he found she had been head of a completely unrelated project. It was disturbing to say the least.

However, never one to give up a chance for advancement, he had taken the opportunity that the mystery epistle had given him and after a few tests to verify the information within had brought it forward to his supervisor as his own. His boss at the time had been delighted and had taken the idea to the regional head office to have its merit examined.

Meanwhile Sandler had started initial animal trials and had been very pleased with the results, as had his superiors. Before long he had received a directive from the home office to move to an unnamed island research center to avoid prying eyes and the ever present threat of corporate espionage. It was there at Station Twelve that the possibility of human subjects had first been examined and he had submitted the request for testing material to Director Donovan.

He had received the go ahead not a week after his submission.

The first test subjects had arrived not long after, convicts who had been sentenced to death for crimes committed in their home countries.

He had felt terrified at first, the actual physical act of human experimentation very different from the theoretical aspect of it. It had taken all his resolve to continue forward, even after the first dozen proved to be failures of epic proportion. At one point armed guards had to be posted in the lab, measures taken against the possibility of a zombified experiment breaking loose.

But as the researchers hearts hardened and their will to succeed grew, so did their expertise in ironing out the procedural glitches that constantly threatened to destroy their subjects. But that did not change the results, zombified, highly infectious monstrosities were not their ultimate goal, they needed the subject to retain enough of their intelligence so as to be able to follow orders, if any successful platform for militaristic delivery could be achieved.

It had been Dr. Yahari who had first hypothesized that the problems were being caused by the lack of adaptability in the hosts bodies' and not the unstable nature of the Lazarus sample itself. They would first need a host that had not fully reached maturity, the undeveloped portions of their immune system and primary organs would allow the change to occur without too much internal struggle.

This revelation had not come without resistance however and they had been forced to let go a large majority of the staff due to their persistent objections. Convicted criminals were one thing but to experiment on children that was sinking to a whole new level of depravity.

In truth George had never thought they would receive approval for this morally bankrupt turn of events, but they had. Not long after they had received Subject 18 and had finally achieved their goal.

"And just what was that?" he whispered to the empty room as he keyed in the activation sequence to the pair of electrodes suspended on either side of the enclosed vial. With the final keystroke, they jumped to life with a crackling pop and the core sample was enveloped in a halo of electrical discharge. George gave it a good ten seconds before he flicked the cut off switch and ended the barrage. Of the gelatinous sludge there was no trace and he felt a sense of great relief in its destruction and even though it would never fully undo what had been done in this place, it was still good to know no-one else would been continuing his work after he was gone.

With that particular task accomplished he made his way across the cavernous laboratory and entered, with help from a fingerprint scanner, a series of heavy sealed interlocking doors. He followed the path of a long hallway, dotted with numerous pressurized doors and one way observation windows, and made the way to the end.

Taking the hazmat suit from where it hung on the wall, he quickly donned the cumbersome outfit and checked to see that he had a full tank of oxygen. Satisfied that he would not succumb to an unfortunate bout of asphyxiation, he gripped his glove clad hands on the doors release mechanism and rotated the wheel one hundred and eighty degrees.

With a gust of air the door opened soundlessly and he entered the airlock, pulling the outer door shut behind him with a click. After the room had re-pressurized, he keyed in his personalized entry code and swung open the now unlocked inner door.

The room inside was much larger than the other cells on the containment block and was fully furnished. To one side was a beat up old T.V. almost buried under a mountain of aging VHS tapes across from which sat an all in one exercise machine and treadmill. Old metal band posters, relics of pre-impact society, covered the majority of the bare concrete walls and a dirty old couch lay in the center of the room, pillows ripped and worn from heavy use.

"Alex?" His voice sounded harsh, metallic, emitted as it was from the speaker unit mounted on the front of his rebreather. His eye's scanned the room, looking for the room's sole occupant.

"Need something pops?" A tall, thin dark skinned form appeared suddenly in the edge of his peripherals.

George let out a heavy sigh and turned as his adopted "son" seemingly materialized from thin air. He could never figure out how the teenager did that. "We're going on a trip, get your things together." The boy beamed a smile and pumped his leather glove covered hand in the air.

"Killer! Is it going to be another military thing or the something actually worth our time?" the teen smirked.

George rolled his eyes, though he was secretly glad that the boy and in turn his greatest achievement was to be spared from the Level 5 purge, he always found himself annoyed by the flippant attitude that his unruly ward possessed. Though he would always then be quick to remind himself that Alex was merely a product of his environment and as his de'facto progenitor he was as responsible for the boy's development as any other.

"Neither, this time we're going to Japan. I've received orders to move you to another facility."

"Awesome, am I gonna learn some Kung-Fu magic like Bruce Lee?" Alex, aka Subject 18, dropped into an exaggerated fighting crouch and let out a whooping noise, throwing a lighting jab at an imaginary enemy.

"No, now go get your things together before you make me angry." He angrily spat, glaring daggers through the clear plastic shield of his hazmat suit.

Alex shied away, a look of fear etched on his face. "Okay Dr. Sandler, I didn't mean anything by it. I'm sorry!" he then quickly scurried over to the rudimentary wardrobe and pulled out a black duffel bag. He immediately began to fill it with various clothing articles, mainly plain black t-shirts and blue jeans, then moved other to the cells tiny bathroom and grabbed some assorted toiletries.

Zipping closed the now full bag; he rushed back to where George had been waiting and set it down at his feet. "Is that everything?"

"Yeah, I got my CD player in my pocket, so yeah." Alex replied, scratching himself through his black t-shirt, emblazoned with a leering skull, a fitting tribute.

"Good. A-18," The teen instantly snapped to attention, back ramrod straight, eyes unfocused and staring, George continued "Protocol Sleep mode, engage."

With the last command uttered, Alex's eye's closed and he collapsed to the floor in an unruly pile, breathing regular and deep, indicating a state of unconsciousness. With a sigh, George removed his face mask and wiped the sweat that had been accumulating in the stifling confines of the suit.

It was strange that, the materials spread of the life leeching corruption being a conscious act. It had been wholly unforeseen, though in light it did make Alex easier to work with, that in conjunction with the miniature hormone manipulator implanted at the base of his skull.

It had been deemed too risky to allow the subject of such power to remain unfettered so they had installed the device as sort of a failsafe, allowing certain code phrases to trigger different reactions in the individual. That combined with aggressive psychosomatic conditioning had allowed for someone to control the carrier system with some certainty, a must in the field of weapons development.

'And that is what he is.' George thought to himself as he exited the holding cell and entered the hallway beyond. As he went, he paused at each of the conjoining doors and lifted the glass cases and pressed all the red buttons, the ones labeled with big orange letters "PURGE".

With a collective whoosh the zombified residents of the cells were incinerated in a storm of superheated air and fire. Now it was only left to clear out and delete all data stored on the lab's servers and he was sure Technician Weaver could help him with that task, the sooner done the better.

After all he had a helicopter to catch.

…

"Mm-ma-mm-master, the helicopter had been dispatched to Station 12 and the order to transfer the teru'yth spore infected subject to Tokyo-2 has been given." Roger Cruz, vice president of American Technological Industries, one of the most influential and prosperous companies of the post impact world, groveled on his knees like a common beggar.

High up on the 70th floor of ATI's global headquarters in New York 2 there was no one to see him in this state for sure, but even if it had been amid the crowded bustling streets below the results would remain the same.

The Dark Man smiled and patted the prostrated balding business man on the ground in front of him.

"You've done well Mr. Cruz, I am happy to have you as a friend." The master of one thousand guise's sinfully handsome face split into a half moon smile. "I think we're ready to take this to the next level don't you?"

Roger bobbed his head up and down furiously. "Yes Master."

The current President and CEO of ATI smile again and gestured casually with an outstretched hand, opening a rift in time in front of the aged ivory plated desk. Inside the swirling vortex of the summoned portal colors and shapes of all kind twisted and turned in a stomach churning mish mash of sensory stimuli. If one were to squint and concentrate real hard stars could be perceived beyond the veil of convoluted false reality, though who was to say which layer was the real and which was the false.

"Come then my good man, taste the fruits of your labors, experience the embrace of our bright gods loving madness." The Crawling Chaos snaked out his hand and offered it to the kneeling VP.

Mr. Cruz used the proffered hand to raise himself to his feet, dusted himself off and stepped through the portal. It was moments after that the first shriek of pure terror issued forth from the jaws of the nightmare fissure, as if the callers sanity was being slowly ripped away out of his mouth.

Nyarlathotep smiled again as the symphony of screams paraded past his ears. It would never stop, not in the grasp of the mad god, not ever again. Not when all else was lost and the universe finally comes to an end in a flash of bright light. Azathoth will never know satisfaction until all has been consumed within the grasping sucking tendrils of utter madness.

Until then there will be nothing but hunger and pain.

Hunger and pain.

…

A/N I lied.

No Angel attack and no Shoggothing to speak of, not even a little bit!

I debated long and hard as whether or not go this way with the story and finally I decided, with the most appreciated help of _TheLordofPages1692_, I decided to go for it. So apologies in advance for the slowing down in the action and deviating from the main plot, I assure you it will all become clear in the end. Oh and there's going to be a lot more blood and guts to come! I promise!

Oh and as for the long update period between now and last time, gomen gomen, but I'm working again and had to turn my schedule around a little.

Anyways thanks for those reviews and your continued support.

Peace


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